Love Regret and Shame

Rating: Null/10 (2 August 2011)

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In the reader we find a story that could be so true. Like truth is better than fiction this film hits home to your heart with the feelings of Love, regret and shame. Michael and Hanna share a very close relationship in that they are intimately involved with each other as well as the surroundings of post Nazi Germany. Hanna being of a first generation apart from the holocaust events and Michael a young man growing up in the next generation coming to grips with his forbearer's legacy of shame.
The story is tightly focused on the lives of Michael (David Kross/Ralph Fiennes) and Hanna (Kate Winslet) as they first come together out of a chance meeting then quickly become impassioned lovers. During this hidden relationship Hanna is reborn into an innocent youthfulness while Michael is becoming a man. As the story progresses we find the bitter details of Hanna's past coming to surface at the same time Michael is educated about the worlds history and heritage that is a part of his past as well being a descendant of the same shame of the previous generation.
The novel by Bernhard Schlink is closely followed by the screen play by David Hare. Together the acting of Kross/Fiennes and Winslet set with direction of Stephen Daldry give an exceptional movie. The use of no voice overs and excellent editing further engages the viewer into the emotional tides of Michael and Hanna. Lighting and score also play as powerful characters themselves supporting the moods of the actors. The Reader is set between several time lines that are artfully traveled through by the editing techniques of Claire Simpson (awarded for Platoon and 9).
At times you will equally love, hate and pity Michael and Hanna. By the end of The Reader we are not sure of the feeling we are left with, except that this story was Michael and Hanna's lives'.