The Reel Critic

Author: Jason Gutierrez

MOVIE: The Reader
DIRECTOR: Stephen Daldry
STARRING: Kate Winslet, David Kross and Ralph Fiennes

As the film award season reaches its apex in a few weeks, it seems only natural to take a look at one of the films the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences deemed good enough to nominate as one of the year's best picture. I've had many gripes with the Academy Awards and the films they choose to celebrate, and in a year as cinematically weak as 2008, its tough to fault their nominations too much; however, "The Reader" falls far short of what a Best Picture nominee should look like.

Based on Bernhard Schlink's world wide best seller, "The Reader" tells the story of Hanna Schmitz, a stern-looking German woman who, of course, has a dark secret. After helping home sick teenager, Michael (aptly played by David Kross), she quickly seduces the young lad. The two develop a relationship wherein sex is preceded by Michael reading the best works of Western literature to Hanna. They go on a bicycling vacation, make their way through The Odyssey, have a lot of sex, and Michael falls in love with Hanna, who remains icily aloof for her part. The romance comes to an end, and Michael enrolls in law school several years later. While there he bears witness to Hanna's trial for crimes she committed as an SS officer during World War II. The aforementioned situations obviously affected a more mature Michael, as evidenced by the flash-forwards to 50-ish Michael (played by a dour Ralph Fiennes), who stares pensively into the distance and slouches everywhere. This, apparently, is the manifestation of middle-aged angst.

The film, directed by Stephen Daldry, is a beautiful film to watch. The cinematography by Chris Menges and Roger Deakins strikes the proper balance of beautifully lush landscapes during the first half, which are replaced with a minimal palate of harshly foreboding grays and browns. The performances are likewise fantastic, especially by Kate Winslet. Hanna is not a particularly likeable character, and it speaks volumes about Winslet's performance that she never really asks us to like her, she merely presents a simple and flawed woman, paying little mind to what the audience might think of the character. She is matched by young David Kross, who plays Michael with equal doses of youthful na'veté and angst. It's a crucial performance without which "The Reader" would've been lost, and it's a performance that has been lost in the shuffle while everyone rushes to heap praise on Ms. Winslet.

That, unfortunately, is where the strengths of "The Reader" end. Daldry, whose previous credits include the marvelous "Billy Elliott" and "The Hours," has an ear for the obvious. "Have you always been weak?" Hanna asks Michael as she undresses before their first coupling. Cue the sad piano chords. Pan to Michael's hurt face. Cut to Hanna, realizing she has hurt his feelings. It's all very stock, and so obviously cues the revelation that Hanna has a dark past that any kind of mystery surrounding her is immediately erased by the ham handedness of Daldry's direction. Screenwriter David Hare doesn't do the project any favors either, shoving as much empty symbolism into the character's mouths as he can get away with. "The notion of secrecy is central to Western literature," one of Michael's teachers tells him; this barely masks Hare telling the audience that this is a movie about secrets and literacy. Get it?

Dialog problems and Daldry's lack of subtlety aside, "The Reader" has an integral, and far more crippling problem: there are two separate, albeit interwoven, stories and neither Daldry nor Hare are able to decide which is the film's central focus. There is the story involving Hanna, her secret and her shadowy past. There is also a story about Michael, his first love, his inability to really move on from Hanna and how this affects his life. But neither is really developed enough to have dramatic impact at their conclusions.

Even when held up against such underwhelming films as this year's Best Picture nominees, "The Reader" is a real disappointment, and its inclusion in the Best Picture race to the exclusion of more deserving films like "Che" or "Revolutionary Road" is a mistake. Considering the talent involved, "The Reader" should have been a marvelous film, but with the exception of most of the performers, no one made good on their potential. The results are mixed at best - certainly not "best" anything.