Spoiler Alert...
Just watched The Reader and although I can say with absolute certainty that it is better than Paul Blart: Mall Cop, that is all I am sure about. It attempts to humanize a S.S. guard, Hanna Schmidt during the Holocaust by showing her weaknesses and her love life and apparently, frequently her nipples. I've read a few reviews that say that the film focuses too much on Hanna's inability to read and not enough on the terrible shit she went to prison for. I think this was an attempt to approach the subject from a different angle. It certainly makes one feel for her a bit, but completely omitting the entire Holocaust seems too easy. It almost feels like a trick; an out of sight, out of mind sort of thing. And Hanna taking the extra years in prison just to avoid admitting that she can't read seems crazy. How stubborn/prideful is this lady? I can't argue with her taste in books though, Huck Finn, The Odyssey, The Lady with the Little Dog, War and Peace, Dr. Zhivago and Tin Tin (can't all be heavy duty I suppose). Though, I did wonder why she didn't read more German hits.
Kate Winslet is getting a lot of pub for her performance, as she should. She did a great job. I think she'll be remembered for nailing the role, but I wonder if people will remember this movie as a misfire, a failed attempt to look at the Nazis from a literary/reading perspective. Did the book/movie work? Is it offensive in its light-handed treatment of the events of the Holocaust? I guess that's what I am asking you.
