Access Atlanta > Movies > Blog > Archives > 2008 > December > 03 > Entry
First Look at “The Reader”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two secrets lie hidden at the heart of the new Kate Winslet historical drama “The Reader,” which is scheduled to open in Atlanta on Christmas Day. The movie’s own trailer spoils one of them — an increasingly common problem with trailers — but the movie works better the less you know going in.
Set in Germany in various time periods from 1956 to 1995, “The Reader” is the story of the relationship between Hanna (Winslet) and Michael, who’s played by Ralph Fiennes as an adult and German newcomer David Kross as a youth.
When they meet, he’s 15, she’s about 35, and they begin an all-consuming sexual affair. It’s easy to see Michael’s motivation — he’s a virgin embarking on what he comes to see as the love of his life. Hanna’s motivation is harder to discern, but is connected to her secrets and how they have damaged her. Anyone can tell it won’t end well, but only readers of Bernhard Schlink’s international best-seller will be prepared for the particular trail of devastation that follows.
The obscure title becomes obvious once the movie gets underway. Hanna asks that Michael read aloud to her, in addition to the other services he provides, and he does, everything from Homer to Chekov.The intimacy of one lover reading a book aloud to another is beguiling, but like much in “The Reader,” there are revelations that will unfold.
Here’s some of what people will be talking about when they stagger out of “The Reader” and re-orient themselves.
The nature of guilt, and of how we deal with people who are guilty. Although it takes place after World War II, “The Reader” is very much about the Holocaust, and how Germans behaved. There’s a lot more moral gray area here than in most film treatments of the Holocaust.
The amount of sex and nudity. Winslet and young Kross are utterly fearless in exposing themselves, in every sense. It’s hard to think of another A-list actress in recent years doing so many nude scenes — maybe a dozen or more — in one movie. The sex is not used for titillation, though, but to make some difficult points about Hanna.
The Holocaust in movies. Although there are no scenes set prior to 1956, the Holocaust permeates the second half of “The Reader.” Also opening Christmas Day is “Valkyrie,” Tom Cruise’s thriller about a plot to assassinate Hitler. The two movies are likely to be as different as can be, but “The Reader” is the one that’s going to remind us yet again how large National Socialism still looms as an evil to be reckoned with.
Comments
By Lily Toad
December 11, 2008 3:27 PM | Link to this
This sounds like an interesting movie. I saw “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” recently and was impressed with it, even though I mostly avoid movies about the holocaust. But I may go see The Reader, based on this blog. I hope I don’t see the trailer because I don’t like major plot points given away. Often when I see trailers I say “Well, I don’t need to see that movie,” because it more or less tells the whole plot.
By Da Mick
December 15, 2008 10:26 AM | Link to this
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