Mar 17
“Is this about a guy who likes to read to old people?”
So I’m watching “The Reader” the other day and my mom comes in near the end and sees the main character walking towards an old woman in what could be an old folks home. She asks, “what are you watching?” I respond, “The Reader.” She says, “oh, is this about a guy who likes to read to old people?” Moms….
So I loved the movie. It deals with some very serious topics including the holocaust, illiteracy, sex with a minor, and manipulation of the weak. Kate Winslet plays the role of emotionally distant almost too well. And the guy who played the boy, David Kross, did an amazing job straddling his role as a 15 year old and an early 20 something. I think it’s hard to show the immaturity of a boy and then a subtle maturity and have the audience see two distanctly different times but the same thread.
You can empathize with Kate Winslet’s character despite the fact that she’s done some horrible things and totally manipulated people in really inappropriate ways.
The main thing that I liked about this it’s the first movie that I’ve seen that uses the holocaust as a main plot in the movie, without the movie being really about it. I think it moves forward the conversation and that’s really important. I also recently saw “The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas.” It’s a heartbreaker and a movie about the holocaust. Also really great, but just a different kind of movie.
