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Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The Reader.

Based on a book by Bernhard Schlink, this movie is about a German lawyer- Michael Berg, who in his teens had an affair with an older woman by the name of Hanna Schmitz. Hanna disappeared from his life only to resurface years later as a defendant in a war trial in which Michael was present as a student. She, along with another five women were responsible for the deaths of 300 Jewish women locked in a burning church. A copy of an untrue report on the church fire was presented during the trial in which all five women untruthfully claimed was drafted by Hanna herself. Hanna refuses to take a handwriting sample to prove the authorship of the report and immediately admits that she wrote it. Michael witnesses her take the blame and be sentenced to life in prison and discovers that she was hiding a very personal secret- something that could have helped her in the trial. Hanna was [highlight if you don't mind spoilers, if you DO mind spoilers, stop reading NOW]illiterate- she could not read nor write.

Personally, I love the story line. It is brilliant and extremely chilling but the extent on how disturbing it was to see that a secret was kept quiet at such great lengths did not come through in film. It borders on 6/10 which is a little unfortunate, really. It wasn't visually-enticing but the story line makes way for hours of pondering, searching for a logical explanation to Hanna's actions. It made me think about the different priorities of different minds. How on earth is hiding illiteracy worth taking the blame for the deaths of 300 people? How do the generation living in the shadows of the Holocaust cope?

The ability to read and write is such a beautiful gift. It's such a shame that many people in this modern age just don't know how to appreciate it. The book is such a lovely thing, with badly-kerned letters scattered all over its yellowing pages, bound by covers of varying textures printed with the end-product of what one deems it fit to be represented as. There is no way you can review a book in the scale of 0 to 10. You don't get visuals forced into yours corneas, it's all about the mind and how you picture the story in your head.

Anyway, Kate Winslet deserved her Oscar for her superb portrayal of Hanna Schmitz. Her performance was oozing with such intensity, such ferocity that it makes your jaw drop to know that Nicole Kidman had the role before she left due to pregnancy. I don't want to see Nicole Kidman naked, seriously. She's too pretty. (Yeah I don't like Nicole Kidman) Keep an eye out for 18 year-old newcomer David Kross by the way!