Post-WWII Germany: Nearly a decade after his affair with an older woman came to a mysterious end, a law student re-encounters his former lover as she defends herself in a war-crime trial. Kate Winslet deservedly won both Oscar and Bafta for Best Actress for this outstanding performance.
Michael Berg (David Kross), a teen in postwar Germany, begins a passionate but clandestine affair with Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet), an older woman who enjoys having classic novels read to her. Then Hanna mysteriously disappears, leaving Michael heartbroken and confused. Years later, Michael, now a law student, gets the shock of his life when he sees Hanna on trial for Nazi war crimes. The Reader boasts some of the finest credentials on film; it is lit by two of Britain's finest cinematographers, Roger Deakins and Chris Menges; it is directed with great sensitivity by Stephen Daldry (The Hours) and with a screenplay by the incomparable David Hare it is gripping and intense, and told with immense restraint and no hint of sensationalism.
Germany/USA 2008 Stephen Daldry 124m
