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Starring |
Kate Winslet
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Ralph Fiennes
,
David Kross
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Directed By |
Stephen Daldry
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Audio
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Dolby Digital 5.1
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Visuals
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16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen
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Running Time |
124 mins
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UK Release Date |
May 25, 2009
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Genre |
Drama
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Our Rating |
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User Rating |
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“If you do a film about the Holocaust, you're guaranteed an Oscar. Schindler's bloody List, The Pianist. Oscars coming out their arse.” And so joked Kate Winslet during her hilarious stint on the first series of 'Extras', foretelling the future and predicting her first Academy Award for the post-Holocaust drama, The Reader.
The film focuses on Michael Berg (Kross), a 15-year-old student living in Germany in 1958, where, upon a chance meeting with a mysterious older woman, Hanna (Winslet), he begins a passionate summer affair. When Hannah one day ups and leaves without explanation, Michael struggles to forget his first love. Eight years later, and Michael is a promising young law student who is still haunted by the woman of his past, though while attending a war crimes trial for his class, Michael learns that Hanna is one of the persons on trial for the murder of 600 Jews.
Stephen Daldry's sombre and morally tricky drama more or less gets the tone right and generally does Bernhard Schlink's hugely popular novel justice. However, like the main character of Michael, we're thrown into ethical disarray when confronted with questions concerning holocaust guilt, punishment, and the relationship between those that conducted war crimes under Hitler, and the generation born in a post-WWII Germany. The film is technically impressive on just about every level, with another career highlight performance from Winslet, stunning direction and eye-catching cinematography. But, the film raises more questions than it answers, and when sympathy for Winslet's sexed up Nazi war criminal begins to kick in, you begin to question the film's hazy moral code.
Despite the moral the ambiguities, The Reader comes highly recommended and is a worthwhile investment on DVD. The disc's extras include a dozen deleted scenes, three short featurettes covering the music, Winslet's make-up and the production design, and a 'Making Of' featurette, which goes a little deeper with some input from the director and screenwriter, David Hare.
Overall Verdict: A gripping drama, if a little morally problematic.
Special Features:
Deleted Scenes
'The Reader: Music' Featurette
'The Reader: Make-Up' Featurette
'Production Design' Featurette
Theatrical Trailer
'Making The Reader' Featurette
Interview With David Kross And Stephen Daldry
Reviewer: Lee Griffiths