The Reader (2008)

To me, this movie is perfection.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

There are already many excellent reviews covering the thought-provoking story of "The Reader". I decided to write a quick review because the story was important and, for the most part, well-written and well-acted. But, in my humble opinion, to make this a truly great movie, and the material deserves more attention, this film needed another pass through an editor's hands to remove the extraneous sex scenes. The subject matter is serious but I found myself wondering if the costume budget had been drastically cut given how many scenes are shown of naked people. I only needed one sex scene to set the stage for the passionate affair between Michael and Hannah. The repetitious sex scenes became gratuitous and boring. Not one of them was original but instead were reminiscent of those that had gone before in "Summer of '42", "The Graduate", and many others. A good 20 minutes in sex scenes alone could've been cut and the movie would've been better for it. As it was they became an unwelcome distraction from the actual point of the film. And that's a shame because once we get beyond them the movie really takes off. Until then, however, my inclination to stop watching was great. I'm glad I didn't, but I did want to warn others. It gets better. A little fast-forwarding may be in order.

The Reader (2008) is a very interesting film, unlike any other I've seen. The story focuses on Michael Berg, played by Ralph Fiennes and David Kross (younger Michael). It's about him and Kate Winslet's character, Hanna. When Michael was 15, he meet Hanna and they began an affair, an affair that consisted of sex and reading. Michael would read to Hanna and then they would make love. They did this for a summer and then Hanna left. A few years later, Michael was in law school and was witnessing a trial, a trial that involved Hanna. We learn things about her past through this trial. One thing that I absolutely love about this film, is the acting. The acting is so unbelievably great, especially on Winslet's part, who I believe is one of the greatest actresses Hollywood has ever seen. She delivers such a deeply raw performance, we as the audience feel everything she feels, the same goes for Fiennes and Kross. I just want to give special recognition to Kross, because I absolutely adored him here! Even as a young actor, he gives a very skilled performance. I also liked the writing, it's very well done. I like that, through the writing, we get to know these characters. Overall, it's a very intelligent film and it's recommended

This grossly overrated and dull film is awful. Very few women in their thirties choose to have sex with 15-year-old boys. Why didn't the writers make Michael a few years older, to make the relationship believable?Why was Kate Winslet given a makeunder to make her so plain? Why did the writers give her a cold, aloof, unlikeable personality? Why would Michael be attracted to someone like that? She should have been beautiful, seductive, romantic, warm, loving, caring etc. - so that the audience would like her and believe the attraction that Michael has for her.The trial is stupid. The idea that Hanna would rather serve a much longer sentence because she's too ashamed to admit that, at the time of the crime, she was illiterate - is ridiculous. No matter how much shame there was to being unable to read, it was tiny in comparison to being a mass murderer. In any case, it would still have clearly been a mass murder of civilians even if you couldn't read, so she's still guilty. The film doesn't show any of the mass murder in question, which is yet another deficiency the film has.

A boy and A woman meet out of life's routine chaos. Its as if life brought them together for a purpose. Boy fulfills his sexual fantasies and also gets mother like love from the woman. While the woman gets a companion that she always needed, for cheer n for forgetting her pains. The story is of happiness till here. Then life moves on. They part. After a few years meet again at a trial. Boy comes to know that the women is convicted for crime but she did all that in ignorance as she could not read n write. Here SHAME is the problem. Because of the shame she can't admit that she is illiterate n save herself. Because of shame the boy cant admit his love and care for the women. she spends 20 years in prison. She is learning to read n boy helps her out by sending audio tapes of his reading. But all these years they don't meet n never express love. Before her release from jail they meet. The meeting is very much dry with formalities talk. She is depressed with the meeting. the guilt about the wrongs that she did in past amplifies further because of lack of love from her lover and she hangs herself. In short...Excess guilt, excess shame lead to self destructive behavior. Guilt, shame killed something that was so beautiful, so divine between two peopleThe movie is very well done. the actors, scenes everything is fine. some "very realistic acting" you can almost live in it!!!