"The Reader"

Apart from "Slumdog Millionaire" (review), I also saw "The Reader" last week. (What else do you do when the family is away and the office is closed?) While it does not rise to the heights of that movie (no doubt because I did not personally identify with this movie like I did with Slumdog), it is still a very good movie. It is based on a 1995 German book of the same name and tells the story of an older woman who has a summer fling with a young boy. The affair ends somewhat mysteriously and it is a decade later, when as a law student the boy encounters the woman who is now the defendant in a war crimes trial. The mystery itself is fairly obvious, although the young man takes his time coming to a conscious realization of it. (There are enough hints that he has grasped the idea at a subconscious level.)

Kate Winslet plays the woman (Hanna Schmitz) and Ralph Fiennes and David Kross play the old and young versions of the boy (Michael Berg), respectively. Fiennes gets top billing, but David Kross gets most of the screen time and important scenes with Kate Winslet. The relationship between the two of them is depicted fairly explicitly, most likely to underscore the impact that this affair has on Michael Berg throughout his life. Kate Winslet is far removed from her star turn in 'Titanic', but is convincing in the role. Interestingly, while the movie is in entirely in English, the characters spoke with German accents throughout - an artifice that is usually dispensed with after a few scenes in most movies.

As in all stories, one waits for redemption - after the affair ends, after the trial ends and while it does arrive, it is not quite exactly what you would expect. Even so, it is oddly satisfying because it seems to be appropriate. The movie is a small slice in time - the story of two people that is indeed relevant to only them, but it does make for an enjoyable movie.

There are some parallels to Slumdog. The character of Hanna has the same compelling honesty, although her underlying motivation is quite different. And just like Slumdog was evocative to me, some scenes in The Reader did the same for the La Jolla audience that I saw the movie with. At one point in the movie somebody asks, "Is there a Jewish organization for that?" A knowing laugh echoed through the theater when the reply came back: "There must be. There is a Jewish organization for everything."