The Reader

Starring: Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes

Product Description

The Reader, set in post-WWII Germany, follows teenager Michael Berg as he engages in a passionate but secretive affair with an older woman named Hanna (Winslet). Eight years after Hanna's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: DVD
• Language: English
• Release Date: March 2002
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Publisher: Alliance
• Starring: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes
• Number of Disks: 1
• Other Video Info: Widescreen
• Weight: 0.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 7.1"

Customer Reviews

"Well, what would you have done?"

The story, based on a popular novel, "Der Vorleser” by Bernhard Schlink, takes place over several decades from the 1950s through the 1990s. We start with a boy, Michael Berg (David Kross), who is helped home by a streetcar ticket puncher, Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet), when he contracts scarlet fever. After recovery, Michael goes to Hanna to thank her. One thing leads to another, and they strike up a physical relationship. The relationship deepens and changes course when Michael discovers that Hanna likes to be read to. He ends up reading everything from the classics to comics. Then one day she disappears, leaving Michael distraught. Eight years later, Michael rediscovers her. Only this time Michael is a law student and Hanna is on trial for war crimes and accused of voluntarily joining the SS. Michael could save her from prison but at the expense of revealing her secret. What would you do? The story is not really about Michael (later played by Ralph Fiennes) and Hanna; it is more about how the different generations in Germany come to grips with their history. I have not read the book yet and am sure that this film is just a reflection of the story, but it was played well enough to win an Oscar and be nominated for many more. I especially like the scene where Michael is reading Hamlet to Hanna. Hanna says that she does not understand it. Michael says (indignantly) it is a classic. She asks if he understands it, and upon reflection, he says “NO”. I will not go into the aspects of the media, as Blu-ray is the norm and does not need to be described.