As Salient’s resident expert on The Reader, I offered to do the movie review, and went to see it for a second time. I felt I needed to see it again just to get my head around it, to figure out how I feel about it. Like the book, the movie is a lot to take in, even more so in its compressed 123-minute format.
The Reader is about the protagonist, Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes), coming to terms with his past. We watch his 15-year-old self (played by David Kross) as he starts having an affair with the much older Hanna (Kate Winslet). Despite the intimacy of their relationship, the affair doesn’t last, and Hanna leaves Michael for mysterious reasons, leaving him emotionally scarred for the rest of his life. Begin the emo phase.
Having read the book many times, I of course got picky about all the little things the movie missed out, or what I think it got wrong. A lot of it can be attributed to the changes that were necessary for the adaptation, such as the extra framework that has been created to encompass the original story. This taken into account, I think that it is an excellent movie that has done the book justice. Although I think the movie missed the point a bit, but I won’t get into that.
Like the book, the movie also has moments that are very powerful and effective, moments that will shock and amaze you. While I feel that these moments aren’t as great in the movie as they are in the book, the movie still has some just as effective. The scene where Michael visits a Concentration Camp is especially moving.
The acting was great… most of the time. I cringed a few times when young Michael smiled to himself (pre-emo phase), and a scene with Hanna crying. This was just in the first part of the movie though, which did have a lot of awkwardness. But Kate Winslet won an Oscar for her role, so what do I know?
I don’t know what else to say about this movie. It is unlike any other movie I have ever seen.
Directed by Stephen Daldry
Written by David Hare (based on the book by Bernhard Schlink)
With Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, Jeanette Hain, David Kross