Problematic Movie, Problematic Ending: POSSIBLE SPOILERS

Rating: 9/10 (16 May 2009)

Kate Winslet deserved the Oscar she won for her role as Hanna Schmitz, who snares a teenage lover, Michael Berg (David Kross) and later emerges as an accused war criminal, sentenced after a trial to life in prison. Michael, then a law student, observes the trial throughout. Fast forward. The boy whom Hanna bedded, now an adult (Ralph Fiennes), acts after a long delay on a key issue he recognized during Hanna's trial and did nothing about, though it might have brought Hanna a much shorter prison term. Hanna is illiterate and could not have written the report on the crime which she and other female guards committed. Her confession in open court that she wrote the report is all that separates her from the other guards who receive significantly shorter sentences. The younger Michael does not tell the court that Hanna cannot read or write, but the older Michael begins sending Hanna tape after tape after tape of things he had read to her during their summer of love-making and much, much more. From the tapes, Hanna learns to read and learns to write. She is no longer illiterate. (I'll omit the ending. No reason to spoil it for those who haven't seen the film.)
Hanna's reason for not defending herself in court -- shamed by her illiteracy -- is comprehensible (barely). The reason Michael, the law student, gives for not disclosing the truth to the court, is that he should not violate her desire to keep her shame private. But the actions of the adult Michael are difficult, if at all possible, to comprehend. It must have taken him many months, perhaps a couple of years, to record all the books he sends her and why does he do it? Memory of a distant love affairs? That scarcely seems a satisfactory motivation. Guilt at having failed to rescue her from her own lie? That isn't a sufficient explanation either. Still in love with her? No reason to think that's the case.
What we are left with then is a superb piece of acting in service of a film that, ultimately, fails of its own weight. That failure does not affect young David Kross's excellent acting during his love affair with Hanna, but it undermines the character of the law student that he later becomes and it leaves Ralph Fiennes without a sturdy foundation for his turn as the older Michael. As a result, despite Kate Winslet's outstanding performance, I was disappointed by this movie.