Review of The Reader (2008) by Spangle — 04 Aug 2016

The Reader is a mixed bag. The first half is practically pornographic and, by the end of the film, feels entirely pointless. I am no prude, but the sex in the first half has no purpose other than to establish the relationship between this man and woman, which is plainly obvious to anyone watching.

Even worse, it's pedophilia on the part of Kate Winslet's character and the way in which it is normalized is honestly sickening. The graphic nature of this first half is completely unnecessary and exists just to be titillating.

The following thirty minutes attempt to extract sympathy for a woman who was a Nazi guard in Auschwitz just because of her "secret" and her earlier relationship with the main character. The final thirty minutes, however, are brilliant.

In these sequences, Ralph Fiennes is absolutely a sight to behold and is brilliant. Kate Winslet is good here and received tons of accolades for her performance here. She is good, do not get me wrong, but Fiennes is the best part of the final quarter of this one which is the best part of the film.

Poetic and beautiful, it is tragic the film was not this way. Instead, the first hour and a half are pointless, pandering, scandalous, and dreadfully boring. Overall, terrific acting here, but this one takes far too long to get to the point and instead is far too meandering and the end result is disappointment.