The Reader (2008)

This is another movie of which I read the novel in beforehand. No doubt this is a well made movie with extraordinary actors' performances. But the novel bears quite a few complexities for an adaptation. The story itself is first of all just a plain love story. However, it touches a whole universe of human problems: sex with a minor, severe guilt, truth/deception, Nazi atrocities, illiteracy, justice, adolescence, family, past, presence, etc.

This sounds like an overloaded story, but it all develops from the love interest and most points are only hinted at. The movie does the same, or maybe just isn't able to further the complex issues at hand. I did fear that a movie might overemphasize the romance, but luckily this has been avoided very well. All in all a film that you can talk about a lot, and the 2 young young female students sitting next to me obviously thought they'd need to do the discussing during the screening (loud potato chips bag included).

Oh, almost forgot to mention: the movie very well depicts Germany in the 50s and 60s, a time I very much remember from my childhood (the 60s, that is). So that was a special quality to the experience.