Thought-provoking and compelling on multiple levels

Rating: 9/10 (26 December 2008)

Less is more in this profoundly moving and thought-provoking work. The action is reflected less in dialog than in the facial expressions of these gifted actors. Where Clint Eastwood took in excess of two hours to reflect the perspective of the Japanese in "Letters from Iwo Jima," one line of dialog uttered by Kate Winslet's character, Hanna, reflects an entire nation's passive response to the horrors of the Holocaust.
In an age wherein our country is being torn apart by factions claiming authority to "right" and "wrong", this film causes one to reflect on cultural norms -- ageism, intellectualism, majority-rule. What are their influences and does one have a responsibility to question them. What is the cost of not doing so on personal levels, interpersonal, national and international? Definitely a thinking-person's film!