The Reader Review (By Mr. Zeddemore)
Man, Kate Winslet sure is naked in this film.
That's what we in the business call a hook. Now you're sold on this review, and just had to read more. Hopefully, at any rate. If you are, then I've done my job and garnered a sufficient number of hits to keep me in the good graces of Mavra and Herb.
At any rate, welcome to a delayed review.
I was meant to review this last week, but got held up. Circumstance is
a fickle mistress, and several random events cut me short from being
able to write about films and TV shows that I have seen and enjoyed.
So without any further ado:
Kate Winslet shouldn't have an Oscar nomination for this because of
two reasons. 1) She's good, but not great. 2) She's not a lead actress
here; she's a strong supporting character in the life story of another
character.
No, this is a Ralph Fiennes showcase.
He is absolutely phenomenal here. While his younger counterpart gets
to have lots of sex (the college student he sleeps with is a
particularly attractive woman), Fiennes gets to sell the moments where
a man whose kept his emotions internal has to leap out of that mindset
and embrace the mistakes he's made in his life...
... and he rocks it. Hard.
Sometimes we forget how good an actor is. Fiennes has done great work in the past, but the Harry Potter films (while paying him a large
amount) have made us view him in a lesser light. He isn't bad in them;
he's entertaining and fun to watch. It's just that they're beneath
him. Seeing him rock the emotions here makes you wish he was getting
the acclaim that Winslet was getting.
(Am I the only one who laughs at her 'acting' during the Revolutionary
Road trailers?)
The rest of the film is good as well, even if Fiennes lifts it up past
the slightly romanticised routes. While watching, one does get the
impression that the filmmakers are torn over whether to view the War
Criminals as inhumane (a rant by a law student seems to be an extreme
version of this) or whether we're meant to sympathise with them (while
it's deplorable, Winslet does sell some moments where her character is
seen to have more of a moral nature than the court prosecuting her.)
This is an odd choice, but one which does play on the duality of the
piece. Her sentence was due to the inaction of someone else, and that
makes you think about whether justice can be found if the little
people don't speak up.
It also makes you think about future generations. Having a mob
mentality towards human beings is inching a step closer to the
template the Nazis used. Obviously there is a difference; however it
can also be argued that small steps can bring us towards a mindset
where order over life could be seen as the best solution.
In the end, the film is trying to teach us that we don't have to
comprehend what these people did, but it might help if we show them
more humanity than they showed anyone else. If we condemn them to the gallows, are we any better?
I have no answers for anyone, just saying my piece.
At any rate, I think I'm disappointed that a film raising an
interesting issue is filled with so much sex and nudity. Kate Winslet
is a very attractive woman to look at, yet at times you think its
overkill and want someone to get her a blanket. Maybe it's just me, I
found myself tuning out halfway through when the bathing motif kept
repeating itself.
My final thought is that it's a really good film, but could've done
with less nudity and a quelling of some romanticism towards her
character.
Four rants out of five.
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