The Reader

The Reader, based on the novel by Bernhard Schlink, is a human tragedy played out in the shadows of humanity's greatest atrocity.

Set in Germany soon after the end of the Holocaust, the movie opens with teenager Michael Berg (David Kross) stumbling through the rainy streets of his hometown, delirious with scarlet fever. After vomiting in the street, he is cleaned up and sent home by Hanna, a local woman returning from work. After several months of bed rest, he returns to Hanna's apartment to thank her, and she wastes little time before making love to him.

Michael will spend many more days with Hanna during the course of the summer, racing home from school to her bed. What begins as a strictly physical relationship morphs into something more, as Hanna begins to require Michael to read to her before they make love. This development doesn't seem significant at first but is of enormous importance later in the movie.

What do we make of Hanna? Here is a confident, focused, beautiful woman whose every movement is assured and precise. Yet she's given to fits of anger and volatility that seem to erupt from a deep well of wounds and hastily repressed memories. It is apparent that there is no one else in her life. Kate Winslet is remarkable in this Oscar-winning role, giving what could have been a caricature a tremendous amount of depth and making Hanna an unforgettable character.

The two spend the rest of the summer in bed. It is a blissful time for both Michael and Hannah, though Michael's euphoria seems born of the sex while Hanna's derives from Michael's reading to her. Then, without notice, Hanna disappears.

Michael is leveled by her leaving, and as the movie flashes forward to the present, we see that Michael (played now by Ralph Fiennes) never recovered from the emotional toll of the relationship's sudden end. Now a lawyer, Michael is polite yet detached from the world around him. He admits as much to his daughter from a failed marriage, telling her he is not open with anyone, including her. We learn that Michael didn't return to his hometown for many years, not even for his father's funeral. Everything is a reminder of Hanna. It wasn't just Hanna's disappearing that burdens Michael, but also the guilt associated with a crucial decision he made the next time he saw her.

When we see Michael again, he is a promising law student taking a seminar focused on German guilt in relation to the Holocaust. His professor, played by famed German actor Bruno Ganz, centers the course on the nearby trial of several women who served as Nazi guards at Auschwitz and led a death march of women and children that ended in all of the prisoners, save for a mother and daughter, burning alive in a church after a bombing raid. Despite the screams of the prisoners, the guards refused to unlock the door and allow them the chance to escape.

Michael and the rest of the class attend the trial, and he hears a familiar name during the roll call of the defendants. He looks up to see Hanna. As the trial progresses and Hanna's involvement in the deaths of thousands is made clear, Michael is thrown into an emotional turmoil. Here is a woman with whom he shared the most intimate of experiences, who left with no explanation, and who is now on trial for her role in the Holocaust. Winslet is a marvel in the courtroom scenes. She answers every question truthfully and readily admits her involvement, and she is so genuine that it's not impossible to empathize with her.

When the judge attacks Hanna after she admits to sending women and children to another camp where she knew they would be killed, she immediately asks him what he would have done. His inability to answer answer begs the question, what would any of us have done? Hanna, exasperated, says she was just following orders. She was doing as she was told.

It's easy to level judgement on her and everyone else who worked the camps, but consider that the rest of the country knew what was happening and did nothing to stop it. How far does the guilt extend? There were many monsters in the Nazi ranks, but most Germans were decent, law-abiding citizens with values and morals. Are they just as responsible for the deaths of millions as those in the Nazi army? These are questions the movie takes seriously, and we see the conflict raging inside Michael as he tries to reconcile Hanna the lover with Hanna the war criminal.

It all comes to a head when Hanna's fellow defendants accuse her of composing a report that stated they knowingly kept the prisoners locked in the church. It is clear the charge isn't true, but when the judge asks Hanna for a sample of her handwriting to match to the report, she inexplicably refuses and accepts responsibility for the report, sealing her fate. Michael is baffled, but quickly ascertains the secret of which Hannah is so ashamed. She is illiterate. Michael is torn over what to do with this knowledge. If he presents it to the court, he might affect the sentencing of a war criminal. He consults his professor, who tells him he has a moral obligation to present it. Michael decides to speak with Hanna to convince her to save herself, and although he makes it as far as the prison, he decides to turn back and withhold the information. Much like the generation before him, he says nothing. And, like the generation before him, he is ravaged by the guilt of his inaction.

The Reader stirred several debates upon its release in 2008. Some thought there was too much focus on the sex scenes, while others argued that the movie equates the shame of illiteracy with Holocaust guilt. The sex scenes are certainly graphic, but they aren't meant to titillate. It's what Michael and Hanna's relationship consists of, and Hanna uses it as a means to be read to. It's fair to wonder why she so desires to be read to, and the movie never tries to explain it. Maybe the stories allow her an escape from her memories. We all have things we love, and we all have secrets of which we are ashamed.

As for equating the shame of illiteracy with Holocaust guilt, that is not what the movie does. It does appear at times than Hanna feels more ashamed of her illiteracy than she does guilty for role at Auschwitz, but that doesn't mean it's the stance of the movie. When Michael does confront Hanna many years later about her involvement, she explains that there's no sense dwelling on it because "the dead will still be dead." However, her illiteracy remained a part of her life, an ailment she could not overcome. The movie doesn't make excuses for Hanna, and it doesn't make any attempts to tell us how we should feel about her. It is why the character is so memorable and effective.

The Reader is a devastating, challenging movie that asks questions I'm not sure have answers. Roger Ebert described movies as "empathy machines." After watching The Reader, you might be surprised at what, and who, you are capable of empathizing with.


Note: The music for The Reader was composed by Nico Muhly, and it is one of the most effective, heartbreaking scores I have heard.