The Reader – Love on Trial

You may choose to watch ‘The Reader’ for different reasons.
Hitler turned around the fate of Germay twice over with his entry and exit. Germany did become a power to reckon with while Hitler was there but once his downfall began, it was a monster who was not dying soon. The monster would haunt Germany for generations.
‘The Reader’ takes you through the mind of a young boy’s love journey which he traverses but perhaps never arrives.
Michael has a torrid but brief affair with a much older woman Hannah. What initially looks like a couple of sexual encounters; is actually a love odyssey which will stay in minds of both Hannah and Michael for lifetime.
Hannah played by Kate Winslet is Michael’s love interest for a summer where before every love making session, she wants Michael to read out to her. The beautiful love making scenes brutally snipped by censor board in India surely make you want to hit them on their head but there’s more to their love story and so you stick around.
Hannah makes an abrupt exit of Michael’s life to return as a war criminal being tried in a court. When Michael comes to know her past, she so conveniently had kept him out of, he’s devastated.
The turmoil in him led by shame, guilt and pity is beautifully expressed by David Kross as young Michael and Ralph Fiennes as the older one. Kate Winslet puts up a convincing performance of a woman who does not realise the gravity of her actions.
Stephen Daldry gives you a love story in the backdrop of a war trial. Although there’s not one scene which could give you a peek in the war or the times, but the trial…it looks as if will go on endlessely.