Movie Review: The Reader

Michael Smith - Tulsa World

The Reader

How do we explain to our children that some white people in this country, at one time in history, enslaved black people?

We explain history the best we can, with passing time making this effort seem less personal, if hardly less shameful.

But imagine giving that talk just one generation or two beyond those events. In the case of Germany, transfer the discussion to post-World War II.

That's what the new film "The Reader" does. When watching young German students in this film's late 1960s setting, you can imagine the confusion, their queries: What role did our family play in exterminating Jews?

"The Reader" is a literate adaptation of Bernhard Schlink's novel, the first German book to reach No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. With an earthy sexuality, consuming guilt and one remarkable acting performance, the film reminds of "Sophie's Choice" from a generation ago.

Kate Winslet is the mesmerizing performer here, the sheer force that lifts a film with a provocative concept but uneven execution to become an absorbing drama about how we reconcile the actions of those who came before us. That idea is presented through the eyes of Michael Berg, who is played as an older man by Ralph Fiennes, but who for the better part is seen in flashback and portrayed by Ben Kross, whose Michael is a 15-year-old boy in 1958 Germany.

As the film begins, he is collapsing in the street, the result of scarlet fever, and helped home by a stranger, Hanna Schmitz (Winslet). Months later, Michael seeks out the woman to thank her, and an initial flirtation with a woman 20 years older than himself becomes an all-consuming summer affair.

Moviegoers receive an eyeful of this secret, physical relationship. This odd couple spends a good portion of the film's first 45 minutes in various stages of undress. Their relationship is, in a way, covert between them as well. Winslet creates in Hanna an enigmatic figure, deeply passionate but stern and largely disinterested in conversation. She is a mystery that is slowly revealed.

Hanna adores books, specifically those that Michael reads to her. He eagerly dives into Homer's "The Odyssey" and Chekhov's "The Lady With the Little Dog" once he understands that this activity is deepening their physical relationship.

And then it ends. Hanna vanishes. Michael, who is to be affected by this fiery early sexual experience for the rest of his life, does not see Hanna again for eight years, when she is among several defendants at a 1966 war crimes trial.

Where director Stephen Daldry and writer David Hare (the team behind "The Hours") show a subtle craftwork with the interpersonal relationship and tone of the picture to this point, they appear less comfortable when the film becomes a courtroom drama.

As evidence slowly reveals the past for Hanna and Germany, and as the theme of one's personal literacy becomes more prominent, the film becomes more detached from the viewer. Fiennes plays a larger role late in the film, and that's a detriment, as the actor appears unable to gain a proper read on the older Michael's motivations.

What never fails, however, is the performance of Winslet and the need to keep history alive through stories like "The Reader."

The Reader

Starring: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kross

Running time: 2 hours, 3 minutes

Rated: R (some sexuality and nudity)

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