THE READER(2008) via NETFLIX

It was the year 2009 when I first heard about this film, most probably during The Academy Awards or a little after that. My mom and dad watched it and loved it then, but I wasn't really interested in watching it. Well, during that time my movie experiences were limited to films my brother RJ could be interested in watching or things my movie buddies were interested in watching. At least that was what I knew then, none of them wanted to watch it... or maybe I didn't have the gall to ask.

Now, more than ten years later, I found myself watching a movie about a man (played by RALPH FIENNES) about my age looking back on his teenage years (played by eighteen-year-old DAVID KROSS). Oh boy, what an experience he had. Or should I say experiences?

A woman in her 30s seduces a young boy of fifteen. Her foreplay was, if one could call it that, was making the lad dig coal so that when he was done with it, she would run a bath then... well, their affair would begin.

Why is it called THE READER? Kate's role, Hanna, is illiterate, but she does not admit that to anyone, not even to Michael. She lets Michael read to her different books by great authors. In one part of the movie she let him read first, then they would "make love".

Instead of spoiling everything for you, let me just say that there was a crime bigger than what Hanna was accused of... it was stealing Michael's innocence.  

Yes, she made a big impact on his life, that everyone else failed in comparison, but for me, Hanna distorted the young boy's mind and values. All she brought to him was trauma in the guise of "love".

Sigh.

You probably won't agree with me. You would probably say that Michael was deeply in love with Hanna and that he truly cared for her. You might even be right, but seeing how Michael couldn't get her out of his system, especially during lovemaking, is some sort of post-traumatic stress disorder. It's a "miracle" that he even has Julia as his child.

I found Hanna very manipulative. Up to his adult years she ruled his mind and senses.

How did I feel after watching it? I felt like correlating it to the current situation of historical revisionism. We see what we want to see, and we learn what we want to learn.

Caveat emptor: This may be an award-winning movie, but I think a lot of people would find it distasteful because of the many lovemaking scenes between Hanna and Michael in their Birthday Suits. 

When you buy or rent this or watch this on Netflix, you must have an OPEN mind and look at the story as a whole.

This is a poster for  The Reader (2008 film) . The poster art copyright is believed to belong to the distributor of the film, the publisher of the film, or the graphic artist.

From Wikipedia:  The Reader is a 2008 romantic drama    film directed by Stephen Daldry and written by David Hare, based on the 1995 German novel of the same name by Bernhard Schlink. It stars Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, and David Kross. It was the last film for producers Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack, both of whom died before its release. Production began in Germany in September 2007, and the film opened in limited release on December 10, 2008.

The film tells the story of Michael Berg, a German lawyer who, as a 15-year-old in 1958, has a sexual relationship with an older woman, Hanna Schmitz. She disappears only to resurface years later as one of the defendants in a war crimes trial stemming from her actions as a guard at a Nazi concentration camp. Michael realizes that Hanna is keeping a personal secret she believes is worse than her Nazi past – a secret that could help her at the trial if revealed. Some historians criticised the film for making Schmitz an object of the audience's sympathy and accused the filmmakers of Holocaust revisionism. 

Although it received mixed reviews, Winslet and Kross, who plays the young Michael, received acclaim for their performances; Winslet won several awards for her role, including the Academy Award for Best Actress. The film itself was nominated for several other major awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Is THE READER a true story?

'The Reader' is partially based on a true story. The screenplay is adapted from the 1995 German novel of the same name by Bernhard Schlink. The book is considered a parable that deals with the complexities faced by the post-war German generations in understanding the Holocaust. -https://mysweetindulgence.com/other/is-the-reader-by-bernhard-schlink-a-true-story