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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.
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