Nottingham High School's Modern Foreign Languages Department

Film Review: The Reader

Posted on 16. Oct, 2009 by Mrs Moorhouse in Deutsch, Languages

Year 13 German recently watched The Reader.  Tom E shares his thoughts on the film with us.

The Reader, for the most part is an elegant, fluid film crafted with distinctly European trademarks that one would suspect to be absent in what is a typically Western adaptation of a traditionally European story. For this reason, I suspect that The Reader is, in a way, self-fulfilling, in the sense that the issue the book sets out to deal with is addressed by the way in which the film attempts to come across. I believe that the film would have greater appeal to international audiences, due to the European style of film it sets out to be.

The film raises many difficult questions, many of which typical cinema goers will not be used to facing. For this reason, I consider The Reader to be a thought provoking picture that crosses significant boundaries. The film is separated into roughly three parts, and the performances by many cast members are noteworthy, with the most major contribution from actress Kate Winslet. As a fan of European film, I am no stranger to films that detail what life was like under the Third Reich. However, of all the films I have seen that do this, The Reader is the most meaningful, for the sole reason that it looks at the legacy of Nazism on the next generation of Germans. What I found interesting was that it demonstrated the difficulty the population of Germany had with balancing their shame at their parents’ actions and complicit behavior with the almost universal notions of love, understanding, and forgiveness.

For me the underlying message in this story was pride. Pride which led the poor Hanna Schmitz to be condemned at a war trial for fear of uncovering her illiteracy. Yet the way the story is able to incorporate so many different issues under one title is astounding.

The most gripping aspect of the film for me was the way in which we were invited to consider what we would do in certain emotionally charged situations, by the presence of a script that does its job perfectly and doesn’t over explain. The Reader is a film that leaves the viewer with many questions. With the strikingly provocative cross-section of the concept of collisions between morality and law that the film portrays, we are left asking what we want from our own justice system, and whether we really ever have the right to the feeling of moral superiority. The Reader forces us to make our own judgments on the actions of the characters, which should be the aim of all films that choose to deal with such a contentious and important issue.

Written by Tom E

Photograph by beastandbean

Tags: Deutsch, Film, Year 13