'The Reader' Movie Review

Rating: 9/10 (16 March 2009)

'The Reader' Movie Review
The Reader is an English movie based on the Nazi holocaust which happened during the Hitlerian regime in Germany. The movie is today widely known thanks to the best actress Oscar received by Kate Winslet for her role in this movie.
The publicity that the film received in the media mainly focused on Winslet who had earned a reputation as the big loser at the Oscars, for repeatedly getting nomination for the "Golden Man" and then losing out. Though the media mainly focused on the big question of whether Winslet would win the Oscar at least this time or not, the movie and its story are worth acclaim on their own merit.
The movie begins with an adult Michael Berg (played by Ralph Fieness, who is famous for his role as 'Lord Voldemort' in the 'Harry Potter' movies) staring out of his home window. As he looks out of the window, we see a yellow train passing by. As the camera zooms closer to a train window, we move into the past and see a young Michael Berg (played by David Kross) returning home.
Hannah Schmitz (played by Kate Winslet) helps a sick Michael reach his house and Michael pays her a courtesy visit after he gets well. Then a chain of events occur which lead to physical and emotional bonding between Hannah and Michael, in spite of the difference in their ages.
Hannah is fascinated with the plays that Michael reads to her every evening. This bonding between them is presently really well and is a great study of human psychology. Hence the movie is titled 'The Reader'. Later, Hannah takes up a new job and moves to a different place.
The movie becomes more serious and gripping from here on, as Michael Berg, now a law student accompanies his professor and his colleagues on a trip to watch a few Holocaust perpetrators put to trial in the court. He is left stunned, when he discovers Hannah among the Nazi women guards put to trial!
As the investigation progresses, Hannah is forced to admit that she gave the idea of preventing the victims from escaping the church were put up at, by locking it from outside. She is also forced to confess that she wrote a memo after the event, supporting her actions. While she keeps saying that all of the six Nazi women guards had jointly executed the plan, the other perpetrators refuse to accept their part in the crime. Instead, they project Hannah as the leader who issued all the directions. All the while, Michael keeps saying to the professor that he knows something that will absolve Hannah of her crime, but never presents in the court.
In the end, Hannah is sentenced to life imprisonment, while the other guards escape with a sentence of four years and three months. Kate's acting in the courtroom is one of the highlights of the movie.
The scene now shifts to an older Michael who returns to his parents' house, at a time when his marriage is fast falling apart. Here he gets nostalgic, as he touches the books from which he read out to Hannah, several decades ago.
With a tape recorder and a microphone, he spends several hours' everyday reading out the plays. He neatly packs each play and forwards them to the prison, where Hannah is put up.
Kate gives a memorable performance as the old lady, who spends her old age remembering the sweet memories that she had, listening to the plays from the tapes. The happiness that Hannah feels is presented in a manner that tugs at our heart strings.
She learns to read and write now, in her prison cell. We are left in a shock as we realize that she spent two decades of her life, living in imprisonment for a crime she never committed in the first place as she should couldn't write a memo or read its contents and understand them.
She gives up her life one day before her release, since she never wants to leave her home for the past two decades.
The viewer is left with a lasting impression, as the movie draws to a close. The storyline and the multiple-award winning performance by Kate Winslet remain etched in our mind long after we have finished watching the movie. It is understandable that the movie was nominated for the top Oscar honors, though it couldn't convert the nominations into awards, losing out to the "feel-good movie of the decade", 'Slumdog Millionaire'!