The Reader
When he falls ill on his way home from school, 15 year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. Nearly a decade later, he re-encounters Hanna as she defends herself in a war-crime trial.
10 January 1987, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
31 March 1919, Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany
1965
12 January 1940, Danzig, Germany [now Gdansk, Pomorskie, Poland]
6 October 1969
11 June 1955, Wuppertal, Germany
7 September 1985, Potsdam, German Democratic Republic
30 November 1959, Karl-Marx-Stadt, German Democratic Republic
4 July 1990, Bargteheide, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
5 October 1960, Berlin, Germany
13 September 1949, Berlin, Germany
5 October 1968, Berlin, Germany
September 29, 2012
The film's exploration of the Holocaust's fallout on subsequent generations is harrowing.March 24, 2011
A film that will haunt you for months with its fleeting and subtle examinations on morality, love and guilt.January 08, 2009
An airless vacuum labeled Serious FilmSeptember 17, 2010
A decades-spanning drama that dives into the slippery human nature of lust, manipulation, retribution and doubt. "The Reader" is a phenomenally tragic story of people eternally connected, never knowing whether it's by true love or unshakable regret.December 30, 2008
The trial's outcome leads us into a third act that continues to give renewed, rending meaning to the movie's title.April 08, 2009
If Winslet carries the complex psychological intrigue of the film on her shoulders, David Kross carries the heart of it on his.December 30, 2008
The Reader is a bold and provocative film and one of the most exquisite of 2008.January 05, 2009
Its issues are infinite and moveable. It's a bold and challenging work.September 28, 2011
A holocaust movie with a deep, twisting dive into a dense tangle of thorny moral, ethical, situational and emotional issues.July 06, 2010
Stephen Daldry's film is sensitively realized and dramatically absorbing, but comes across as an essentially cerebral experience without gut impact.October 20, 2010
Manipulative and flawed, but interesting and occasionally moving.