Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2560 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-05-25
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 124 minutes

Synopsis
Though THE READER may boast the typical pedigree of a Holocaust film--acclaimed actors, a literary source, and an Oscar-baiting end-of-the-year release date--this drama has a significant difference: it focuses on a perpetrator, rather than the victims. Kate Winslet takes on the hefty supporting role of Hanna Schmitz, a woman who has an affair with Michael Berg (German actor David Kross), a 15-year-old boy in 1950s Germany. They spend their brief romance alternately making love and focusing on literature, with Michael reading everything from Chekov to Homer to his lover. Soon, Hanna abruptly disappears, and Michael returns to his normal life. Almost a decade later, Michael is studying law, when he sees Hanna again; she is on trial for her crimes as an S.S. guard during the war. Michael is torn between a desire for justice and his knowledge of a secret that may save Hanna.


THE READER makes full use of hindsight and historical perspective. Based on the bestselling novel by Bernhard Schlink, the story is framed by an older Michael (Ralph Fiennes) who deals with both his personal history and the collective past--and guilt--of the German people. This is a complex film that doesn't give the audience any easy answers; Hanna is undoubtedly guilty of horrific crimes, but she is a multilayered character who is always fascinating and always human, thanks to the terrific performance of Winslet, who plays Hanna over four decades. Director Stephen Daldry earned an Oscar nomination for his work on another literary adaptation, THE HOURS, and he deserves more praise for this polished film.

Customer Reviews

Beware This Film is NOT 1080p/24fps
Entertainment in Video (EIV) claim that this film is 'Full HD' resolution but most people who purchase Blu-ray HD discs would assume that this means 1080p/24fps, a quality standard that us Blu-ray movie lovers take very seriously.

But closer investigation has discovered that whereas in the United States The Reader [Blu-ray] has been released with the 1080p/24fps Full HD specification, here in the UK customers are getting 1080i/50 resolution: interlaced instead of progressive scan.

But after a lot of pressure from internet users, and the "What HiFi Sound & Vision" magazine publication and web site (their reporter referred the matter to the Blu-ray Disc Association for their take on the matter), EIV have finally promised that all their future UK releases of Blu-ray titles will indeed be 1080p to ensure that UK users are not short changed on the quality of their HD films. But it seems that The Reader will remain released with the inferior 1080i quality.

Flawed but good film, perhaps better value on DVD
When a film tries to be something special, it is sometimes difficult not to be too tough on it for falling short of loftier targets. Whatever its faults, this is an enjoyable adult drama which is very well acted by the three principals: Winslet, Kross and Fiennes. Kross plays a young boy, Michael, who has a brief but passionate affair with the older, and illiterate, Hanna, played by Winslet. He reads to her without realising at the time that she cannot read.

Later he encounters her in court when he is a law student and she is on trial for her role as a guard in the SS. Her illiteracy plays a crucial role in the trial, and I will steer clear of a plot spoiler here. Suffice it to say that she is imprisoned, and that during her imprisonment Michael, now played by Fiennes, sends her tapes of the books he used to read to her. With great determination she finally learns to read by comparing what she hears on the tapes and what she sees on the pages of those books borrowed from the library. The culmination of the plot I found somewhat unsatisfactory, but cannot give details without spoiling the film for those who have not seen it.

The film has its faults. The tempo is often far too slow, and yet still allows for sketchiness. Of course, the film is very much concerned with secrecy, but I am not sure if this licences the extremely cursory treatment given to the end of their affair. Later dialogue makes it clear that Michael feels he was harmed by the relationship, but too little of the substance of this is cinematically shown, and not much told. Unless we are to automatically infer that his life was ruined by losing his virginity to an older woman; which would be strange given that this has probably happened at some point in history without a man's life being ruined! The dialogue is also often shaky. The way in which Hanna calls him "kid" (also when they are both quite old) never rings true. In fact often the dialogue sounds a little unidiomatic, a rare example in films these days of when a source book's status as foreign literature really advertises itself. The dialogue between Fiennes and a camp survivor late on is also very strained and artificial, for my money.

The film is worth seeing, but it is not really the sort of film where Blu-Ray is worth the extra money. I disagree with the other reviewer here about audio quality, I thought it was scarcely recognisable as a high definition sound-track (international customers please note that only English is on this disc!) By way of contrast I thought that "Frost/Nixon" also dialogue driven was worth it as a Blu-Ray. In this film there is so much soft-focus and so few of the kind of shots that make Blu-Ray worthwhile that I would recommend the DVD. Potential customers should also note that this film is NOT in cinema aspect ratio, but in widescreen ratio 1,85:1.

I nearly gave it three stars, but having so often given five stars to plain, honest, action films, I suppose you have to give film-makers some leeway when they try to produce more ambitious films, even if the "Odyssey" motifs are somewhat overdone (the endless baths, Hanna as Circe ?) and end up seeming on the wrong side of pretentiousness.

Compelling
I wasn't sure what to expect before I watched this movie and I was nicely surprised by the story. The story is written and a reflective and almost poetic way and touched many controversial issues ,including the holocaust and some viewers might find disturbing.

The story centers around justice and the sense of national shame in Germany after the war ,told in the frame of a love affair spanning nearly 40 years.

It is no easy to watch as there are difficult and angry scenes.

The main actors , Winslet and Kross , provide intense performances and are delight to watch. The direction is excellent and perhaphs the film's only flaw was to open in the same year as slumdog millionaire.

5 stars