Review: The Reader

A mixture of excitement about NYC and nostalgia over my preferred method of procrastination during my undergrad days led me to embark on a near-weekend-long SATC marathon.  Luckily, the men I was with (whose names I promised not to disclose) also enjoy the show more than they'll ever admit, and had no problem with me monopolizing the TV.

For various reasons, I'm not going to review SATC.  Mostly, I find that people generally have firmly established opinions on the show (whether or not they've actually sat through an episode) so anything I could say would either bore you by echoing your exact beliefs or intensify your objections to the lifestyle in question.

Instead, I'll review The Reader (also known as the movie that finally got me to turn off the Sex).  The film tells of a man, Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes/David Cross), who at the age of fifteen is seduced by a mysterious, much older woman named Hannah Schmitz (Kate Winslet).  One of the main components of their affair is her desire that he read aloud from great literary texts.  Years later Michael encounters Hannah again as a law student, when he is required to sit in on a war crimes trial of female Nazi guards (Hannah being one).  It's pretty obvious from about fifteen minutes into the movie that "big shock" will be Hannah's illiteracy.  Sure enough it rears its ugly head during the trial, when she proves just how humiliating she considers her secret to be. 

 The film's ending (or the entire film, for that matter) is at once sad, heartwarming, and predictable; overall I'd say I enjoyed the movie.  It's a little heavy on the cheese in parts, and the theme is way overdone (yes, the Holocaust was unthinkably horrible), but it was interesting to see it played out from the "German guilt" perspective.  Kate Winslet's performance is definitely Oscar-worthy, but I still think Anne Hatheway should have won.

Bottom line:  Good movie, but not for those turned off by depressing stories or cheesetacular plot lines.  See Rachel Getting Married for a more 21st century version of a depressing movie.