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Capone is seduced by Nazi Kate Winslet in THE READER!!!
Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
At its core, THE READER is about a German woman named Hanna (Kate Winslet) attempting to live a less-than-ordinary life in the post-World War II time of rebuilding. The problem is that during the war she lived a life that made her a very visible figure in a place where her face and her duties will never be forgotten. Hanna was one of several prison guards tending to females interned at Auschwitz, and she was often called upon to select who lived and who died. These facts are never in question in this loaded drama that will test your capacity to care about someone who may or may not have carried out her orders with compassion or sadistic joy. One young man knows a secret about Hanna that would answer this question and set her fate one way or another.
From director Stephen Daldry (THE HOURS), screenwriter/celebrated playwright David hare (PLENTY; THE VERTICAL HOUR), and based on the novel by Bernhard Schlink comes this sometimes emotionally clunky but ultimately powerfully realized tale that begins with a 15-year-old Michael Berg (David Kross) meeting Hanna, a streetcar ticket taker, when he becomes ill on the street and she helps him home. After recovering from his long illness, Michael finds Hanna to thank her, and the two almost inexplicably begin a summer-long and very naked affair. The only "kink" Hanna introduces into their days together is she likes to hear David read to her from classic literature, such as Huckleberry Finn, The Odyssey and even Lady Chatterley's Lover, which Hanna finds disgusting but insists that he keep reading. They almost always meet at her small apartment, and as tawdry as the whole business is, it also contains a real sweetness to it. Then Hanna vanishes suddenly, and Michael is left crushed.
Jumping ahead eight years, Michael is now a law student whose class is sitting in on the trials of possible Nazi war criminals. The case he is observing regards a handful of female prison guards, including Hanna, who the other guards attempt to portray as the leader of the group and the instigator of some truly awful acts. In a plot twist that is not nearly as implausible as it might seem, Michael realizes that a fact he has only come to realize about Hanna could prove that these other women are lying. Perhaps because he doesn't want to shame Hanna or maybe just because his broken heart still hasn't healed, he says nothing.
Without getting too much deeper into the plot of THE READER, I'll add that Ralph Fiennes also appears in the film as the middle-aged Michael remembering the events and attempting to overcome his guilty feelings by helping a now-elderly Hanna still in prison. One of the film's most riveting performances comes from Lena Olin in a dual role as both an elderly woman who survived Auschwitz and remembers Hanna all too well, and her grown daughter whom Fiennes approaches for a favor years after the trial.
I hope I'm not making THE READER sounds more complicated than it is. It's actually an elegantly streamlined story of a man who never really got over his first love. That summer shaped and guided the rest of his life, for better or worse, and in the end he attempts to do right by his conscience and by the woman who taught him how to give himself over to a person completely. The film has its flaws, and perhaps answers some questions a little too definitively when they might have best been left fuzzy and unresolved. But the guiding light of THE READER is Winslet's guarded and somewhat cold performance as a woman who clearly needs love and affection in her life even if it opens her up to exposure to both emotion and physical injury. I'll admit, her stance as the dominant force in their love-making made images of ILSA, SHE WOLF OF THE SS dance through my mind (oh baby), but Winslet is incapable of putting in a bad performance even when the material doesn't quite match her level of perfection (in totally unrelated news, see my review of REVOLUTIONARY ROAD next week). Though I struggled with some aspects of THE READER, ultimately I found it an enlightened and profoundly strong work.
-- Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com
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suck me watchmen!
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...a fifteen year old boy. That's kind of disappointing...it was one of the things that intrigued me most when viewing the trailer of this film.
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...with all the news stories lately of female teachers.soccer moms/whatever shagging with fifteen year olds it seems like it would be interesting to explore the mindset behind that. I still don't get it. Where were these women when I was fifteen?
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'Cause we haven't had enough about that period. Not to mention the Holocaust. Man, just something different for a change. Maybe do a film about the Roma (Gypsies) who were also targeted by the Nazis. Or hell WW1 where the good guy/bad buy divide was much hazier. With this and the Tom Cruise vehicle, it would seem that this WW2/Holocaust formula will just keep getting retreads until we've covered every possible aspect of that time while ignoring other things.
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going by tradition i take it they'll be wearing the mandatory tight leather outfit with the unzipped cleavage just revealing.
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Mein Kampf!!!
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Just how naked does Kate get in this? Topless? Full Frontal? And how long is she naked in it? Is she naked enough to justify the price of a ticket or should I just wait for it to hit cable?
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Mostly because every review I've read for 'The Reader' on this site has been positive, yet over on RT The Reader is currently getting it's ass kicked. You guys have to be a bigger deal than the hundreds of Random Bloggers they have listed as reviewers over there.
Oh, and Happy Birthday Jesus. -
Meow
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It's not like you can start jerking off to it right there, so seeing a movie in the theater exclusively for titilation is bizarre. Just wait for the DVD, and not only will you have privacy, but you can easilly set the "good parts" on repeat and go at it.
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Trench coat, and or wait until Monday morning at 11:00 bargain matinee prices and go to the top row with the trench coat on...
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ya know..full, somewhat matted honey thatch and nappy, pungent pits...or is she clean shaven and silky smooth; therefore not truly getting into the role and presenting an inaccurate image of late 1940s early 1950s German womanhood?
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didn't he like that stillborn turd Australia?...
this film has been getting awful reviews everywhere else.. -
Take a squirt gun and load it with Jergens hand lotion. (Howie Mandel, circa 1984)
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will prompt your hands to act.
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Someone please become NaziKateWinslet on AICN. That's gold.
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Dec 26, 2008 3:35:10 PM CST
It's almost the end of the year, must be Holocaust movie season!
by galactic
Jesus Christ Hollywood, can you be more blatant in your Oscar lobbying? Winslet even admits as much in her role in Extras.
Enough with the Holocaust movies. We don't need any more. -
Kate wants 2 nominations for an Oscar. Revolutionary Road vs The Reader, though I hear the former is miles ahead of the latter. I dont know why Daldry was making such a fuss about both coming out at the same time.
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Dec 27, 2008 4:29:15 AM CST
So, the Holocaust is just set dressing for a middlebrow "dilemma
by burnhollywood
Holy fucking fuck.
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(Sorry...not enough room for me to fully convey my startled contempt...)
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This piece (and Fiennes being in this film) just got me thinking of the most terrifying Nazi portrayals in film history...probably the most underrated villain ever, especially when you consider this monster was an actual person. Anyway, thought that was an interesting tie-in...
Kate Winslet makes American Express commercials electric...five on the five finger scale indeed. -
http://tinyurl.com/6shqd6
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..however Revolutinary road was a fucking borefest.alteast in Little Children She bared ass as the only saving grace in RR was Leo'uperb acting and the ending which wasnt much of a payoff. Reader sounds interesting, but I doubt it'll top the greatness that is BlackBook.Nazi schmatzies!
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