The Reader

And the Oscar goes to…Kate Winslet for best leading actress.

the reader movie poster

81^st Academy Award (2009)

Won:

1. Best Performance by an actress in a leading role (Kate Winslet)

Nominated:

1. Best Achievement in Cinematography
2. Best Achievement in Directing
3. Best Motion Picture of the Year
4. Best Adapted Screenplay

In honor of Rosh Hashanah, I chose to watch the movie “The Reader.” It stars Kate Winslet as Hanna Schmitz, a 36-year-old woman who has an affair with a fifteen-year-old boy named Michael Berg, who would read to her. But that’s not what makes the storyline so interesting. On top of the affair, the Hanna has a deep secret she can’t read. Sure, it’s not that serious but it’s also what condemned her. She was once a SS officer in a concentration camp who later went on trial for war crimes. Hanna and other female SS officers were convicted of locking Jewish prisoners in a burning church.  Her fellow SS officers ganged up together and testified against Hanna to save themselves from prison.  They blamed Hanna for writing a report that ordered the act. The judge demanded a writing sample in order to compare the handwriting. There was absolutely no possible way Hanna could have written the report since she’s illiterate. Hanna could have easily saved herself from prison by stating she is unable to read or write, but she has too much pride. Instead she takes blame. But I think it’s not just her pride that Hanna that stopped her from admitting her inability to read or write but her guilt. In the end, for example, after she committed suicide she wanted to give the money that she saved over the years to one of the survivors.

The movie was based on a novel by Bernhard Schlink. I actually read the book. It was pretty straight-forward and short but it had a powerful message but in my opinion, the movie portrayal was much better since there was so much emotion put into each character.

Notice the reoccurring idea of reading and writing? I’m pretty sure that’s where the title came from.

Winslet’s performance was well deserved of an Oscar. I’m sure her character was difficult to play. But it was the way Winslet articulate her line and the expression in her eyes that made her worthy for Oscar. Her voice would quiver showing weakness but also it would be persistent like in the turning point in the movie where she was in court. I found Kate Winslet’s character, Hanna Schmitz, one of the most difficult characters to understand. I wanted to like her and sympathize with her since she’s a victim of circumstance. She was after all trying to do her job but yet again I couldn’t help but think – she’s not a victim but rather a predator who was responsible for the murders of innocent Jews.

^the video is part of Kate Winslet’s acceptance speech and shows clips of the movie.

I think this movie should have been nominated for best make-up. Did you see Hanna Schmitz at age 66? She is riddle with so many fine lines and wrinkles on her face. At first I thought another actress player older Hanna but when I checked the end credits, it was Kate Winslet. Hence, another reason why this movie is Oscar worthy.

I think its worthy for two Oscars – one for Kate Winslet’s performance and one for best make-up.

Yes, this movie is worthy for Oscar.

It would have been great if this movie won more Oscars that year but it was up against pretty good films like Slumdog Millionaire and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

**Reference from IMDB**

The Great Dictator

Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness,hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little.

13th Academy Awards (1940)

Academy Award Nominated for:

1. Best Picture
2. Best Actor
3. Best Original Screenplay
4. Best Supporting Actor
5. Best Original Score

The movie “The Great Dictator” in my opinion is a great movie. I was pretty impressed when I found out The Great Dictator was nominated for so many awards. But it was disappointing the film didn’t win any awards.

I’ve seen other earlier silent films of Chaplin before I saw this movie so I was a bit surprised to actually heard him speak. He was quite eloquent when he spoke, when he played the Jewish barber or Hynkel.

It was a bold move to create such a controversial movie considering the fact the movie mocked Hitler – the most hated man in world and mass murderer who is capable of erasing your mere exisitance.I could only imagine that this movie was banned in Nazi-controlled Europe. But last year I saw a documentary about Charlie Chaplin’s life called The Tramp and the Dictator, in which a former SS officer and friend of Hitler named Reinhard Spitzy said “He wasn’t a kill joy” and “‘Within the inner circle he could definitely laugh at jokes like these.”

I find that hard to believe since Hitler is one crazy psychopath who is incapable to sympathize or love another human being, what more laughing – not just at anything but at himself. I seriously think Spitzy is just saying that since the two are buddies.

There were parts of the movie that would be considered racicts like during Hynkel’s fiery speech, he spoke in gibberish that resembled the German language. In addition, he would let words like “liverwurst” and “sauerkraut” slip out. It was funny at first but the speech would last more than 5 minutes at which point you just want it to stop. I even had to fast forward that scene.

There were a few historical discrepancies that I noticed through the film. For example, the Jewish barber was arrested in one scene and placed in a concentration camp. While he was detained, the barber was able to correspond with his Jewish girlfriend in the ghetto through letters. I felt that the movie made the concentration camp appear more like a prison rather than the hell-hole that you see in pictures.

Yes, this movie is worthy for Oscar.

The Oscar goes to Charlie Chaplin for his performance of the innocent barber and the evil dictator.

The Oscar goes to Charlie Chaplin who also wrote the screenplay for the movie (even though there are allegations that he plagiarized).

I would only give it for the two categories only because the music score, to me, was good however, it wasn’t memorable.  The movie really deserved an Oscar in 1940 at least for original screenplay. This movie garnered so much  attention about society and politics and helped people in America understand the war at the time in Europe (bear in mind US didn’t enter the war until 1944)

**Reference from IMDB and TCM commentaries**