The Reader

2008

Action / Drama / Mystery / Romance

118
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 63% · 204 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 79% · 100K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.6/10 10 258784 258.8K

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Plot summary

The story of Michael Berg, a German lawyer who, as a teenager in the late 1950s, had an affair with an older woman, Hanna, who then disappeared only to resurface years later as one of the defendants in a war crimes trial stemming from her actions as a concentration camp guard late in the war. He alone realizes that Hanna is illiterate and may be concealing that fact at the expense of her freedom.


Uploaded by: OTTO
March 05, 2013 at 11:00 AM

Director

Top cast

Kate Winslet as Hanna Schmitz
Ralph Fiennes as Michael Berg
Lena Olin as Rose Mather / Ilana Mather
Alexandra Maria Lara as Young Ilana Mather
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
801.17 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
R
23.976 fps
2 hr 4 min
Seeds 21
1.65 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
R
23.976 fps
2 hr 4 min
Seeds 51

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by gavin6942 7 / 10

Right and Wrong

Post-WWII Germany: Nearly a decade after his affair with an older woman came to a mysterious end, law student Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes) re-encounters his former lover (Kate Winslet) as she defends herself in a war-crime trial.

The film raises the question of whether we should judge someone by the law or rather "the laws of the time". And there is a big difference. Of course we know that killing is morally wrong, and those who sent people to death in World War II were morally in the wrong, even if they were only following orders.

But were they legally wrong? One could argue not. That is a difficult topic. Like the women of this film, those at the Nuremberg Trial were tried and convicted under laws invented after the war. Laws written by the winners. This makes one wonder: is it right to put someone on trial for something morally wrong, even if it was not legally wrong? And who should decide the laws? Had the Axis won, they could have just as easily declared it illegal to drop atomic bombs on innocent villages and then try, convict and execute Harry Truman.

Right and wrong is no easy topic.

Reviewed by Smells_Like_Cheese 10 / 10

Never underestimate the power of guilt

Kate Winslet, I absolutely adore her, she's my favorite actress of all time. I still can't believe that she hadn't won an Oscar, her first nomination was in 1995 with Sense and Sensibility. Finally after 14 long years, she finally won the coveted award with the movie The Reader. I finally was able to see this movie the other day and it blew me away, I'm still debating if this really was my favorite Kate Winslet performance, but once again with a strong cast telling a powerful story, The Reader was definitely one of the best films out of 2008. So many holocaust films have been made, it's hard to make another that stands out, but we really haven't had a story where the Nazi guards were on trial. A lot of people debate if this movie is trying too hard to push sympathy on Kate Winslet's character, but my love for this film is to just show that they were human as well, hard to believe, but that our mothers, sisters, friends, whoever could have done something so shameful.

Michael Berg in 1995 Berlin watches an S-Bahn pass by, flashing back to a tram in 1958 Neustadt. A teenage Michael gets off because he is feeling sick and wanders around the streets afterwards, finally pausing in the entryway of a nearby apartment building where he vomits. Hanna Schmitz, the tram conductor, comes in and assists him in returning home. The 36 year old Hanna seduces and begins an affair with the 15 year old boy. During their liaisons, at her apartment, he reads to her literary works he is studying. After a bicycling trip, Hanna learns she is being promoted to a clerical job at the tram company. She abruptly moves without leaving a trace. The adult Michael, a lawyer, at Heidelberg University law school in 1966. As part of a special seminar taught by Professor Rohl, a camp survivor, he observes a trial of several women who were accused of letting 300 Jewish women die in a burning church when they were SS guards on the death march following the 1944 evacuation of Auschwitz. Hanna is one of the defendants. Stunned, Michael visits a former camp himself. The trial divides the seminar, with one student angrily saying there is nothing to be learned from it other than that evil acts occurred and that the older generation of Germans should kill themselves for their failure to act then. But Michael is conflicted on what to do, if to speak out on Hannah's behalf on some of her innocence in the murders or keep quiet.

This is one of the most powerful movies I have ever seen, it was so incredible and just heart breaking. One of the things I respected about the film was the way they handled the awkward "love story" between Michael and Hannah, she's older, he's younger, but it's not even a perverted thing, so strange to say that. I don't know how to put it exactly, but their connection was real and in some sense they both needed each other. If you have the chance to see this movie, I seriously suggest that you take it, the powerful performances really make this film captivating. The story is so heart wrenching and painful, but was told so well. Kate now finally has the award she's deserved for so long and pulls in a terrific performance with The Reader.

10/10

Reviewed by SnoopyStyle 7 / 10

Kate Winslet great but movie slow

It starts in 1995 with Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes) as an older successful man. Then it flashes back to 1958 when Michael Berg (David Kross) encounters Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet) for the first time. He's a sickly teenager who falls for the older woman. They have a secret love affair where he reads the classics to her. Hanna is given an office job and then she disappears one day. He grows up to be a cold and distant defense lawyer even to his own daughter. As a law student, he finds himself attending the trial of Hanna Schmitz as a Nazi SS guard at Auschwitz who locked 300 prisoners in a church which burns down.

The love affair is slow and at first, I figured this is a slow European story about a love affair. It does turn into much more. I would prefer the love story be trimmed a bit while some re-enactments of the war years could be added. It is a provocative examination of guilt and shame. It lays out the story but not give any easy answers. The performance of Kate Winslet is outstanding. The film definitely gives the audience plenty of time to ruminate on the issues. It probably gives too much time and space. It needs to pick up the pace and force a point of view on the audience. That's why a couple of scenes of the war years would be essential. Although director Stephen Daldry seems set on the unanswered question of the murky morality without the essential scenes.

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