Ralph Fiennes has always been one of my favorite actors; he has a quiet intensity. There is also a somber mystique about him. Kate Winslet's performance was amazing! I'm going to have to watch some more of her latest work. I'll have to watch Revolutionary Road, the movie in which she received the Academy Award.
Some of the themes the movie dealt with were love, loss, and guilt. A relationship that lasted for a summer had a profound effect on two people. We could debate about the morality of the relationship between the characters, Michael and Hanna, but I don't want to get into that. I just wanted to write about how I enjoyed the movie.
I found myself becoming totally engrossed in the characters' lives. The passage of time in the movie kept me focused also, in that the viewer went back and forth in time with Michael's character. We first see him in 1996 and then we flashback to his thoughts when he first met Hanna before World War II. As we go through the movie we find that Hanna is in Michael's thoughts a great deal.
Later in his life did Michael read to Hanna out of love, guilt, or a combination of both? One could argue that she had victimized him and damaged him. The romantic in me likes to take the view that Michael loved her. Was Hanna's relationship with Michael more than just sexual? She admitted she loved him. It could be debated.
What do you think?
I realize I haven't even scratched the surface discussing this movie. My friends have said they don't like to read my reviews sometimes because I give away too much. I decided to be as vague as I could. I know that books are always far better than movies. I'll have to add the book, The Reader by Bernard Schlink to my list of must reads.
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