Well, Winslet's plan to win an Oscar by starring in a Holocaust film worked.

Rating: 8/10 (9 March 2009)

Stephen Daldry is a director who has started to acquire a reputation for tackling books that are rather difficult to adapt, starting with his 2002 debut, "The Hours". This time, he has chosen as his subject Bernhard Schlink's 1995 novel 'Der Vorleser', which was somewhat controversial at the time, attracting accusations of creating too much reader sympathy for a former SS officer. I did not find that to be the case here; what Schlink and Daldry are doing, as I see it, is raising uncomfortable questions and taking the stance that there are no neat answers (which could, I suppose, be called a dodge, or else dramatically unsatisfying).
The film, like "The Hours", has a somewhat intricate narrative structure, juggling timelines in 1958, 1966, spans from the 1970s to the 1980s, and 1995. There are points when this seems unnecessarily complicated, but it generally works well. The most effective sequences are the 1958-1966 span, where Michael Berg (David Kross) finds himself drawn into an affair with Hanna Schmidt (Kate Winslet), a Neustadt tram employee. He is 15, she considerably older. Their relationship is almost a quid pro quo of sex and reading. Then, one day, she vanishes, only to return into his life surprisingly in 1966, when he finds her on trial for her role in the death of 300 Jewish women in the final days of World War II. In the later sequences, an adult Michael (Ralph Fiennes, a long way from Amon Goethe) as he deals with the aftermath of these events.
One of the more prurient items of discussion regarding this film is that it features quite a bit of Kate Winslet naked and having sex (though 1 in every 2 Kate Winslet movies might be said to have the same). There is also plenty from the young Kross (one imagines your average young actor would be thrilled for their first role to involve a lot of time being naked in bed with Kate Winslet). There is in our society something of a double-standard regarding such underage relationships; if this film starred Brad Pitt and Emma Watson, once imagines the reaction of critics and audiences would be rather different. However, "The Reader" conveys with great subtlety the damage this does to Michael (even before the Nazi revelation). In 1958, while the affair goes on, Michael becomes isolated from his friends and ignores the more age-appropriate Sophie; by 1966, at law school, he finds himself incapable of sleeping in the same bed as a fellow law student; in the present day, we find him divorced and struggling to connect with his daughter.
On the issue of the Holocaust, the filmmakers are quite aware of the risk they run in focussing so much on Hanna; the camera tends to create sympathy, particularly as she is so scared an uncomprehending when brought to trial. We feel the temptation to make excuses for her based on illiteracy. And, at the end, the film wheels out a survivor (Lena Olin, wonderful in two scenes) to challenge this directly. Michael, whose story this is and whose views have been transplanted to the audience to an extent, squirms under her questions. As Olin says, the film cannot offer absolution, nor, perhaps, should it (that's up to you, of course).
Berg's guilt comes not just from his inability to resolve the question of Hanna, but also from his own actions in 1966, and what that says about him. On a much smaller scale, he repeats the moral cowardice of Hanna's generation which casts doubt on whether he'd have done any better in her situation.
The cast is excellent. Winslet deserved an Oscar for the work she does here (though it's more properly a supporting role, not a lead); what she does with her facial expressions in the trial scene is impressive. Kross makes a strong impression here as well. There's novelty in the presence of actors from past Holocaust dramas occupying roles much more sympathetic; not just Spielberg's Amon Goethe, but Hitler himself, Bruno Ganz ("Downfall", another film that attracted criticism of too much sympathy for the devil), as a law professor. Overall, a very strong package.
And for those who don't get the title reference, do consider watching the BBC comedy series "Extras".