‘The Reader’: A Powerful Exploration of Choice and Silence
- Director: Stephen Daldry
- Running Time: 124 Minutes
- Rated: R
- Recommended for: Drama enthusiasts, character-centric film enthusiasts, Kate Winslet fans
- Not recommended for: Historians, easily offended viewers
World War II films cover a variety of topics from the invasion of Normandy to the kindness of a man amidst the Holocaust. More often than not, they are dramatic retellings from letters and documents from the war. Few, though, attempt to question and inspect the motives and behaviors that came through the war, especially from a fictional perspective. The Reader is an intriguing film that brings up many questions and is fascinating at its overall content, using World War II, the Holocaust, and Germany as backdrops to a single man’s guilty secret. The film has some structural and detail issues that does not always make The Reader cohesive and comprehensible, yet remarkable acting, well-balanced tension and moral weighing make the film memorable and potent.
The Reader is concerned about two main characters: Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes) and Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet). The narrative begins in Germany with Michael as a 15-year old boy who is dying on the street and Hanna, a 30-year-old trolley attendant, sees him and helps care for him until he goes back home. Michael returns a few weeks later to thank Hanna and soon, a passionate affair begins between the two. One requirement that Hanna creates before any lovemaking is for Michael to read to her the books from school and soon, the two grow fond of each other. However, one day, Hanna is gone and Michael never feels the same again. A few years past and as a law student, Michael is part of a seminar group and watches a trial for several Nazi guards, and he is surprised to see Hanna on trial. The narrative examines the elements of their love, Michael’s moral choices, and Hanna’s secrets.
Although there are noticeable achievements, there are some lingering problems. One of the biggest is the choice to skimp over details. The Reader runs along at a brisk pace, although it does slow down at poignant, dramatic moments. However, many transitions are a bit hasty and sometimes, these scene shifts create some confusing scenarios, although never to the detriment of the film. For instance, a character is taken out of a prison cell looking calm in one scene yet completely worried and sweating in the next. There is no clear reason why the expression has changed. Another scene hinges on a plot point concerning the changes in government policy between the past and the present yet it is never mentioned or explained at all. Another, albeit smaller, oddity is the older Michael story being weaker than the younger one. The film is in constant flux between the past and the present. However, although the audience gets an explicit viewpoint of Michael during the affair and at law school, his adult self is not as well expanded. Instead, there are small glimpses into his present-day life from his discussion with his daughter to a job as a defense attorney. It would have been even more thoughtful to have explored, for instance, how his actions within the law field have changed since one of the film’s themes centers so heavily on the legal motivations, or view more of his interactions with his daughter at a younger age. They seem like missed opportunities.
Otherwise, the film is a magnificent character piece about morality. One of the strong points is that the cast is filled with strong performances. Ralph Fiennes and David Kross, both playing the older and younger Michael respectively, are strong players throughout the spectrum of Michael’s life. Kross not only exudes the naïve and love-struck 15-year-old, but also gives gravity and weight to the character in the crucial scenes as a law student. Although Fiennes is not given much time for emotional range, his performance comes off well enough to give the film its circular conclusion. More importantly, Winslet is the main attraction of the film with a beautiful performance that mixes in a sense of power, lust, and fear. She begins as the older counterpart who leads the affair and as an actress, is still not afraid to show off her body while intently playing her role. This transforms into a position where Hanna is more susceptible to Michael’s advances and culminates at the dramatic tension played out later in the courtroom, even though the two characters technically never speak during these scenes. It’s a moving role in which Winslet gets to play nearly thirty years of Hanna’s life with a harboring, deep secret.
The screenplay is the other element that brings the film together and makes it feel complete and satisfactory. Although the film skips all over the timeline, it works well in setting up the next big revelation and plot point. More importantly, the screenplay really does have the audience feel and understand Michael’s guilty secret and never trying to make excuses on his moral choices until the final scene. It also handles the heavy themes well along with the more morbid narrative arcs. The Holocaust and Nazi regime are never the central points of the film and are more devices used to move the center arc of the plot. There are some very serious and well-thought out debates throughout these scenes such as to the trial of a few versus the trial of a nation and the validity of such legal motions, but again, these add to the weight of the choices that Michael make rather than becoming the central issue. This is important since the film never gets tangled up in a nation’s moral tale that would have created a much different film but an individual choice. Most impressive is how it all comes back down to books and reading. The Reader makes the ultimately smart choice in making a German film completely in English from the dialogue to the text as words, letters, and books are crucial in making a connection with the audience. Constant symbolism and repetition are utilized well enough to not be too overly melodramatic but gives enough cause for audiences to think about a simple aspect that many take for granted.
From a very endearing cast lineup to a well-implemented narrative that shakes up the common World War II film, The Reader is a poignant journey about one man’s conflicted sense of morality that also touches on interesting ethical dilemmas on the law to love. The film does falter on finer details, making some scenes progressively confusing. Additionally, the final act feels much weaker in comparison to the rest of the film as well as scenes involving the older Ralph; both which could have been fleshed out. But these are minor quibbles against the greater success of The Reader. Most films have trouble taking such touchy topics and central symbolic elements to create a soaring plot but here, Daldry successfully integrates it all into a narrative that does not make the post-World War II world its main story but an effective plot device of one man’s confusion and suffering all neatly bound in reading.
The Wie muses: ****½ out of *****
Ratings:
*****: Excellent
**** to ****½: Great
*** to ***½: Good
** to **½: Mediocre
* to *½: Bad
0 to ½: Terrible
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