The Reader 2008

     This film is based on a 1995 German novel by Berhnard Schlink and the setting is post-war Germany.  Michael Berg is a teenager, he becomes very ill and he is helped by Hanna.  She works as a tram conductor and Michael is half her age.  Michael has scarlet fever, he recovers and he looks for Hanna to thank her.  They are quickly drawn into a passionate but secret affair.  Michael discovers that Hanna loves being read to and their relationship deepens.  He reads The Odyssey, Huck Finn and The Lady with the Little Dog.  Hanna has been promoted to a clerical job at the tram company’s office and she mysteriously disappears one day.  Michael is very heartbroken and confused?  Eight years pass and now Michael is a law student.  He has been observing the Nazi war crime trials and he is stunned to see Hanna in the courtroom?  She is a defendant believed to have committed war crimes and her past is revealed.  She was a guard at a Nazi concentration camp and she is accused along with several other woman.  They are charged with letting 300 Jewish women die in a burning church when they were SS guards.  Michael uncovers a deep secret that will impact both of their lives. 
     This is a story about truth, reconciliation and how one generation comes to terms with the crimes of another generation.  Hanna has a secret and she will give up her freedom rather than admit the secret.  There is testimony by Llana Mather, she is the author of a memoir about how she survived the camp along with her mother.  She states that Hanna read to her in the evenings.  Hanna is also accused of being the author of a report on the church fire event and the other women blamed the deaths on her.  This is a deeply moving story and there is uncertainty about how it will end.  5* (I really liked this movie)     
    
124 min, Drama directed by Stephen Daldry and written by David Hare and Berhard Schlink with Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, Bruno Ganz, Jeanette Hain, David Kross, Susanne Lothar, Alissa Wilms, Florian Bartholomai, Friederike Becht, Matthias Habich, Frider Venus, Marie-Anne Fliegel, Hendrik Arnst, Rainer Sellien, Rotsten Michaelis, Mortiz Grove.

Note:  Imdb 7.,6 out of 10, Roger Ebert 4 1/2*, Rotten Tomatoes 63% critic 79% audience, The Guardian 1* out of 5* Peter Bradshaw, DeepFocus 3 1/2* out of 4* Brian Eggert, Metacritic 58 out of 100 with 38 critics (19 positive, 17 mixed, 2 negative) 7.2 out of 10 with 175 user scores (120 positive, 40 mixed, 15 negative), Amazon 4.3* out of 5* with 2933 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Saxony, North Rhine-Wesphalia, Lubelski, Brandenburg, Berlin, Germany.  Originally David Kross did not speak English but he learned the language for this film.  Bruno Ganz played Michael Berg’s Holocaust-surviving professor in this film.  He famously played Adolf Hitler in the film Downfall of 2004.  Producers Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella both died before the completion of this film.  Two producers Donna Gigliotti and Redmond Morris were nominated for Academy Awards.  The Academy made an exception to their rule not to name more than three producers for a film.  Because of this rare circumstance, four producers were honored with the award.