For most of us our first love is something that always sticks with us, but in the case of Michael Berg (David Kross) his first love had a more lasting impression then most of us would want. At the age of fifteen he entered an affair with 36 year old Hana Schmitz (Kate Winslet in an Oscar-nominated role). The affair only lasted a summer, but it was wonderful to him. The two would have sex and then he would read to her. This was a daily pattern until one day Hana just disappeared. Years later during a class where he and several other classmates would observe a trial he would find out what happened to Hana. "The Reader" has been unfairly nicknamed "the WWII sex movie." There is a reason for this. The movie is about WWII, and there is sex. It would be an insult to the film makers though if this were all it was known for.
It's not even what the movie is about. No, the movie is about secrets, and the shame people carry with them. Hana has a secret. The revelation of this secret could work to her advantage in court, but she's ashamed of it and doesn't want to revel it. Michael contemplates reveling the secret but finds himself in the same boat. What would people think of him if they realized he had had an affair with a grown woman when he wasn't even legal yet? It's a complex web of lies and deceit that carry well into the later years, when a grown-up Michael (played by Ralph Fiennes) contemplates the past and how it's effected his life in the present. There are clearly regrets about choices he made during the whole situation that he, in all likelihood, would have handled differently if he had the choice now.
Many people have expressed little interest in seeing this film. Most of the reasons revolve around the explicate sex scenes that play a prominent role in the first half of the film. These scenes are controversial and unsettling, but more so are the court scenes where a more serious debate is up in the air. When Hana is accused of being a murderer she claims she was just doing a job. This situation shows the movie in true form as morality questions are abound and not so easily answered. It's these scenes that should leave a bigger mark on the viewers then the early scenes. Will they though? That's what I'm debating right now. See, the truth is this IS a complicated movie! It IS up for debate! There's a lot to like about it. But whenever sex is thrown in the mix it tends to...slant the movie a bit.
I've read article after article about the controversial sex scenes, the age of the actors, and whether or not this is glorified pornography. It seems like the wrong thing to discuss about the movie. The movie is about moral ambiguity, secrets, and the consequences of shame. It's an ambitious movie that doesn't fully succeed in what it's trying to say, but comes close enough that audiences could get the point at the very least. Whether they will or not is a discussion for a whole different article altogether.
