Genre: Drama; Director: Stephen Daldry
Stars: Kate Winslet, David Kross, Ralph Fiennes
“What would you have done?”
“Is that kinder?”
These questions may not have an impact on you now but watch The Reader and you’ll see. And the funny thing is, the movie does not answer these questions. It just asks. And it’s up to you to find answers for yourself.
Only two emotions get the better of me: shame and guilt. Director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter David Hare (people behind The Hours) explored these emotions gracefully in The Reader. You can just imagine how much this film affected me, being someone always overpowered by guilt and shame.
The film’s plot centers on a sexual affair between a curious 15-year old boy and a 36-year old enigma, who turns out to be one of the Auschwitz guards during the Holocaust. Although it is an integral element in the film, The Reader is NOT a Holocaust movie. Or maybe it is. Wahaha. But whatever, it does not steer away from the absorbing illicit relationship between the two characters.
Kate Winslet is a standout. She attacked the role with a precision incomparable to any of her other performances. Her eyes scream her past. Also, the way she irons her underwear. And the way she closes doors. And the way she puts her foot in front of the other. Winslet was able to balance the guilt of a naïve former Nazi guard who does not know the consequences of her actions and the shame of an illiterate human being.
Given its premise, one may expect big scenes with larger than life confrontations, characters screaming their emotions out — histrionics in a typical Oscar-aspiring melodrama. But Stephen Daldry carefully avoided such scenes. Emotions are conveyed in ways too slow and subtle, the film gives you enough time to think. Think. Think. Feel. And then think again.
Michael’s guilt is the guilt of the post-war German generation. Michael’s guilt is also our guilt. Michael’s shame is our shame. Hanna’s shame is our shame. Her guilt is our guilt, too. This film rubs in our faces, without us being aware of it, how broken we are as a people by simply showing how broken we are as human beings.
“What would you have done?”
“Is that kinder?”
These lines still echo in my head. It’s been a week.
Forget about Slumdog Millionaire. I want this to win the Best Picture Oscar. 5.0