Despite Stellar Performances, it Lacks Character Development and Compassion,

Rating: 5/10 (31 August 2017)

The Reader is a decent movie with an average plot and a stellar cast. I certainly had no issues with the actors, as a matter of fact, I could not help but sometimes feel that they were too good for this movie, as the amount of raw emotion Kate Winslet puts in to this Oscar winning performances is stunning for a film that gives her so little to work with. It is also a pleasure, as always, to watch Ralph Fiennes perform.
The characters are all unlikeable, none of them really having any likability to them, they do not have definable traits. Michael Berg is the main character that guides this story, but there is not a single thing about this two dimensional being. He is established at the beginning as a man who had an affair, and there is not much scope put in to him beyond that, making it almost impossible to evoke any sort of compassion for his character, and even Hanna never truly grabbed me.
The film also paints the Holocaust in a very strange light. While it is not idolising it in any way, it does not create an image of how horrendous these events were either. The director seemed to try his best to shed some light on these events, which just makes it unsettling, as we all know there is no positive outcome.
Well acted, but nothing more. Poor characters and a disengaging story, I expected so much more from the Reader and was inevitably let down, I would advise giving it a miss.
A man reminisces on his affair with a woman who has a much darker secret.
Best Performance: Kate Winslet