The Reader

3 Stars ***

Having read the book, and then viewed the movie, I can say that The Reader as an adaptation to the screen was extremely well done. Kate Winslet's acting was flawless: subtle and spot on. We forgot that we were watching "Rose from Titanic" or Kate Winslet for that matter, and were completely enthralled by Hanna Schmitz.

Although a WWII - Holocaust film in some sense, I liked how the focus of the story was the characters, rather than the events of the war. Not that I haven't been moved by many Holocaust films and documentaries, but it was interesting to see the focus and plot be character driven. There are many issues at work within the film that touch on the human experience: namely the effects that the weight of shame, guilt and regrets can have on a life, and the courage it takes to push beyond them. 

I expected Ralph Finnes to have a much larger role since he was headlining the movie, but the scenes that he acted were so perfectly executed, he earned his "headline". He was able to bring so much emotion and depth to the role. In addition to Finnes, David Kross did a wonderful job of bringing young Michael Berg to life on screen. In fact, the young Michael carries about three quarters of the movie, and truly holds his own with Winslet. 

Aside from all the amazing acting, I was surprised by the very sexual nature of the film. The book has many sensual parts and touches on very delicate issues that revolve around the sexual nature of people and sexuality across generations; however, I thought the movie had some parts that were overly graphic. I felt the message could have come across without such explicit "love" scenes and the (ahem) full male frontal nudity. (Their clothes are off, we see the naked shoulders, they embrace . . . we get the picture. Why the need for the almost porn?)