The concept of guilt is a fascinating subject; and The Reader is all about guilt. I have never been a particular Kate Winslet fan, but her courtroom testimony took the film to a new height, complicating the idea of guilt to her perspective of responsibility, and furthered by her sacrifice in the face of her pride. And all of this is interestingly contrasted with the pain (and quilt), yet form of cowardice, expressed through the former lover (Kross/Fiennes) character.
This film is about pain and characters that have perpetual pain and sadness. It also takes you to places deep within and asks you to have sympathy for a character that is a victimizer and is guilty of unspeakable acts. Based on an award winning novel by Bernhard Schlink, a German law professor and judge, which deals with the comprehension of the generation who grew up in the shadow of the Holocaust to understand what happened in Germany under Hitler and how it could have happened so effortlessly.
This is a story of an innocent young boy who is seduced by a much older woman and finds himself desperately in love with her. The fifteen year old boy is played by German actor, David Kross, who lends a feeling of innocence and sensitivity to the role few actors of his maturity are able to convey. Kate Winslet plays a woman who is incapable of feeling true love.
It begins with a uncommon but life changing love story and ends with an uncommon but life affirming love story. In between lies a catastrophe of horrors and injustices. Ralph Fiennes is excellent as the conflicted former lover who has difficulty accepting Winslet's guilt as the evidence accumulates against her. This is a story not easily forgotten.
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