Product Details

• Actors: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, Matthias Habich, David Kross, Susanne Lothar
• Directors: Stephen Daldry
• Format: Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Weinstein Company
• DVD Release Date: April 28, 2009
• Run Time: 124 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001PPLJJ0
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,792 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Reader [Blu-ray]" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

What is the nature of guilt--and how can the human spirit survive when confronted with deep and horrifying truths? The Reader, a hushed and haunting meditation on these knotty questions, is sorrowful and shocking, yet leavened by a deep love story that is its heart. In postwar Germany, young schoolboy Michael (German actor David Cross) meets and begins a tender romance with the older, mysterious Hanna (Kate Winslet, whose performance is a revelation). The two make love hungrily in Hanna's shabby apartment, yet their true intimacy comes as Michael reads aloud to Hanna in bed, from his school assignments, textbooks, even comic books. Hanna delights in the readings, and Michael delights in Hanna.

Years later, the two cross paths again, and Michael (played as an adult by Ralph Fiennes) learns, slowly, horrifyingly, of acts that Hanna may have been involved in during the war. There is a war crimes trial, and the accused at one point asks the panel of prosecutors: "Well, what would you have done?" It is that question--as one German professor says later: "How can the next generation of Germans come to terms with the Holocaust?"--that is both heartbreaking and unanswerable. Winslet plays every shade of gray in her portrayal of Hanna, and Fiennes is riveting as the man who must rewrite history--his own and his country's--as he learns daily, hourly, of deeds that defy categorization, and morality. "No matter how much washing and scrubbing," one character says matter of factly, "some sins don't wash away." The Reader (with nods to similar films like Sophie's Choice and The English Patient dares to present that unnerving premise, without offering an easy solution. --A.T. Hurley

Stills from The Reader (Click for larger image)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant movie, great Blu-Ray, May 23, 2009

By	Matthew T. Weflen "Matthew Weflen" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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The film:

"The Reader" deserved its Oscar for best actress, but it also deserved the Oscar for best film (it lost to the inferior "Slumdog Millionaire.") It tells the tale of a young man growing up in post-war Germany who has an affair with a mysterious older woman. Without spoiling too much, the story ends up touching on the holocaust, how much we can blame participants, and whether or not love transcends these historical pains.

Normally, I dislike holocaust films. I find that Hollywood too often beats us over the head with the "it's BAD" message (This Just In! Hollywood Geniuses Discover Holocaust Was Bad!) as opposed to mining the much more interesting tales of personal struggle, loss, redemption, and ignorance. "The Reader" offers an intelligent, probing, and insightful look at the human costs on those who were not direct victims, and on the society of post-war Germany at large. It also tells a heck of a love story, to boot.

I felt so respected by the makers of this film. There is no heavy-handed moralizing, in fact, the message of the film seems to be that, while of course there are great moral wrongs that have been perpetrated, there are lesser consequences which do not make it into history books, but do have an impact on real people and deal them real pains that ought to be respected.

As mentioned in other reviews, this is not a movie for the kids, at least not kids who still titter when they see nudity on screen. The first half of the film is consumed by a lusty affair between a 32 year old and a 15 year old. It's not for immature audiences.

The Blu-Ray:

On the opening scene, I thought this film must be shot on digital. The source was just too clean, with little to no film grain in evidence. Upon further research, however, I have discovered that it was indeed shot on Kodak Vision2 and Vision3 film - which Kodak advertises as producing less grain in low light and in general. Given this, and the fact that detail is generally so strong in this image, I can only assume that this Blu-Ray has been mastered without excessive Digital Noise Reduction.

It is a lovely 1.85:1 image which suits nice widescreen displays beautifully. Black levels are strong, loads of detail is evident in shadows, and colors are extremely naturalistic. There are many moments that offer the sort of "3-D" realism that the best HD can give. The quality of the image adds immediacy and impact to the already involving film.

Audio is very dialogue driven. This is not a BD that will rock your neighbors.

Extras are very strong. 42 minutes (!) of deleted scenes are presented in 480p widescreen. I watched them all, and I would say only one cut was truly unfortunate - a little bit of backstory for Michael's law professor that would have added depth to the story. Mini-documentaries are also available, touching on the writing and casting process, as well as Kate Winslet's aging with make-up. Overall, it's a very strong slate of extras.

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Any fan of serious dramas and romances would do quite well to pick this up. It's a truly great movie that is very affecting and also thought provoking. It's a monument to respecting the viewer, allowing them to digest complex morality without beating them over the head with a "message." I would compare it to films like "The English Patient" or "I've Loved You So Long" (another 2008 Oscar Nominee).

It is also presented in an exceedingly beautiful HD transfer and a strong package of extras. Certainly, if you're doing a survey of 2008 Oscar nominees, you should pick this up over the trite, pat Hollywood fare of "Slumdog." It's also better than the very good, but somewhat flabby "Benjamin Button," and the excellent, but not as brainy "Milk." I can't recommend it enough.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for family viewing, April 29, 2009

By	terpfan1980 "Barry" (Somewhere near Washington DC, United States) - See all my reviews

To be clear from the beginning, this is not a movie for family viewing. Throughout much of the early portions of the film viewers are treated to relatively graphic nudity for both Kate Winslet and the young man (David Kross) that plays the younger version of Ralph Fiennes.

The film covers the tale of Hanna (Winslet) and Michael (Fiennes/Kross) and their relationship and lives. The setting is NOT World War II, but is actually post WWII, starting in 1958, as well as portions set in the 60's and 70's, up thru the 1990's.

Rather than spoiling the story, I'll stop providing details on the story there, and simply say it is quite interesting. The story is based on a best-seller by Bernhard Schlink, and the filmed version features an award winning performance by Kate Winslet (Academy Award and Golden Globe). On Blu-ray the film looks beautiful showing excellent detail and clarity. The audio quality is also excellent though the film is not an action-thriller and doesn't feature the typical booming explosions and sound effects.

Most definitely worth viewing, but again not something that most families would screen around younger family members. The R rating is most definitely deserved for the graphic nudity. The language is actually surprising clean as the film focuses on the story rather than mixing in profanity just for shock value. Not necessarily a film that will be watched repeatedly, but definitely a film worth viewing.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Morality, September 21, 2009

By	B. Merritt "filmreviewstew.com" (WWW.FILMREVIEWSTEW.COM, Pacific Grove, California United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

***CONTAINS SPOILERS***

Maybe it's just me, but I'm sort of surprised that the Jewish community hasn't gotten a tad up-in-arms over this film. I mean, it really sets a seriously sympathetic tone for a death-camp guard with unfortunate circumstances. I realize she wasn't well educated and had to make tough decisions in order to survive, but so did many people who came out of the holocaust ...Germans among them. But usually NOT death-camp personnel who were the overseers of those who went into gas chambers.

Still, this film is well-acted thanks to the amazing performance of Kate Winslet (The Holiday) as Hannah Schmitz, the guard in question. Although I won't take anything away from the other actors in this film, particularly young David Kross as Michael Berg, the boy turning into a man with the help of Hannah's sexual appeal, I will say that, without Winslet, this film likely would've fallen flat, theatrically.

Set across generations of Germans and Germany, the story is loaded with historical interest surrounding the holocaust courts that were set up after WWII. Hannah, not surprisingly, is a keystone for the courts as they uncover what they think is her sole involvement in the ordering of the deaths of Jewish women in one of the camps. Circling back to her time at the camps as a guard, it is quickly surmised (by the movie watcher and Michael, but not the courts) that Hannah has never learned to read, so has those she's about to condemn read to her.

The condemnation is set up in a way that allows Hannah to remember those she's let loose into the gas chambers; a sort of penance for what she is "forced" to do. In a similar manner, she condemns young Michael to a life of lovelessness in that he can never forget her, his first true love. And when Michael goes to school to become a lawyer, he and his classmates are soon brought into the case involving Hannah, but only as spectators. But for Michael, much more is apparent. He has the chance to save Hannah from the courts but is forced into a moral conundrum: Is she worth saving? Is she deserving?

The story continues as we watch Hannah's prison years pass by. With her age comes knowledge and words. Michael sends her packages containing books on tape that he recorded for her, emboldening Hannah to learn to read on her own. Which she does. But is it too late for personal forgiveness and redemption?

The ending hits pretty hard at these core issues. Personal responsibility. Moral condemnation. Rule of law. Historical atrocity. All of these are intertwined to form a patina of the past that blurs the future.

The film is watchable mainly for the purposes of Kate Winslet. Her performance is absolutely stellar. But the pacing and mixed moral message were tough to swallow for me. I'm not Jewish, but I believe that the holocaust happened. And I believe those associated with it, in any way, do not deserve our sympathies. Even those supposedly "forced" into these kinds of situations. Where's the morality in that?