The Reader Review

O my god, shes so naked! Not emotionally naked, proper naked, like all the time!

Synopsis – A young boy is helped by a woman nearly twice his age when he is ill. He recovers, and later finds the woman and they begin a passionate but brief affair. Years later, when the boy is studying law, he attends the Nazi War Crimes trails, and discovers she was a prison guard for a Jewish prison camps.

My Reaction – Hard to say really, its a strange film to try and review. I was surprised how much nakedness there was in it! That’s the last time ill mention that, honest. It clear why Kate Winslet is receiving so much praise for this film.

Plot – An interesting story line to a looser like me who likes WW2 history. Its also a fascinating insight into how a different generation view and judge the actions of another.

Acting – Kate Winslet gives her best yet in my opinion. She had quite a hard role to play as her character Hanna doesn’t show emotions, so Winslet only has very short periods to show her full acting capacity. She also does a very convincing German accent, unlike he co stars who do a German accent when they feel like it.
Her love interest Michael is played by two different actors. Ralph Fiennes puts in a good performance as the older but stern Michael, but the surprise performance comes from David Kross who plays the young Michael. Kross never seems fazed acting next to Winslet, it makes him give a stronger performance. This is however Kate’s film.

Cinematography – The plot and acting don’t leave much room for Cinematography, but clever filming makes 1950’s Germany seem very real.

Direction – Stephen Daldry does a first-rate job with this film, just like he did with The Hours. He has the knack to push actors into areas they may not feel comfortable with.

Best Bit – Difficult to give this good film a best bit due to the theme of the story. For me, it was the dedication to Sydney Pollack who sadly past away from cancer in 2008. Im a huge fan of his, and im glad one of his last produced films is such a success.

To Sum Up – As ive mentioned in another review, Multi Oscar nominated films can lean more towards the depressing stories. This is borderline for me. The story is not a happy one, but the production and acting make this a good watch.

Score – 7.5 Thumbs up out of 10