The Reader: Oscars 2009

The ReaderThis surprise Best Picture nominee has been getting some flack for beating out heavy critical and audience favorites such as The Dark Knight and Wall-E, which is both deserved and not. In a different year, this visually appealing piece that is well shot may have been more welcome into the top 5, but in a year of exciting films, it does not hold one's attention long enough for the audience to appreciate much more.

The score is almost enough to put the audience to sleep, as is the seemingly dull storyline. Over the course of the film, not much happens. As a 15-year-old in 1958, Michael Berg (David Kross) engages in an affair with Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet) that is a mixture of both sexual intimacy (and lots of it) and literature read aloud. Although their affair is short-lived, Schmitz continues to be a presence in Berg's life as the audience sees him at different points in his life (Ralph Fiennes as an adult). When Berg is studying law in his early 20s, he comes across Schmitz for the first time when he attends her trial for her role in the deaths of Jewish prisoners while working as an S.S. guard. Over the next thirty years, the amount of involvement these two hold in each other's lives varies, but it remains a lifelong connection despite the secrets, which emerge.

The biggest frustration is that the connection between Schmitz's illiteracy and her S.S. involvement remained a bit murky during the film. Instead it just seemed like two differing parts of one character where it seemed like they were somewhat related, but it was hard to really draw the two together in a manner which made complete sense. 

Perhaps in recognition of this, Winslet created a character the audience actually doesn't identify with, but that is how Schmitz is supposed to be. By nature, Schmitz is enigmatic, distant and never fully explains herself to Berg, or in turn to the audience. Between her affair with a minor and her role in the Holocaust, there is rarely any explanation into the why she does these things in her lifetime, only that they have happened. It makes for a frustrating plot at points, but Winslet manages to at least expose what may have been going on in Schmitz's own mind at the time of these occurrences, whether or not viewers can make sense of it. It may not make sense to the viewer why she believes illiteracy to be a worse crime than those she committed in the S.S., but Winslet's portrayal of Schmitz's silent conviction on the matter remains to be enough in the film's eye.

The amount of sex is a little excessive, especially when it again dawns on you that Berg is only 15. The relationship doesn't seem nonconsensual, but at the same time it begins so abruptly and is initiated by Schmitz that it remains a bit unsettling during the course of the film. Much of the sex probably could have been cut to create a more concise film since it feels dull as it tries to fill too much time with too little story. While the different periods of Germany are interestingly shown through appealing shots, with little plot or character understanding to complement the visual achievement, the film falls flat. Winslet's performance couldn't even save it, but it's a good chance she's going to pull through at least for herself this year.