A Not-so-typical Coming of Age Story

By Lisa Worsham
February 5, 2009 Issue

In The Reader, a forbidden love affair between a teenager and a woman twice his age serves as a representation of the conflicting emotions of the Germans of WWII and the generation that followed. Towards the middle of the film, a law student of the postwar generation articulates its angst by asking, “How could this have happened? How could you stand by and let this happen? And why didn’t you kill yourself?” There are no easy answers, and this film doesn’t offer any. At most it asks the question that Hannah Schmidt (Kate Winslet) poses at her trial as a former SS guard, “What would you have done?”

The affair starts innocently. Thirty-seven-year-old Hannah helps 15-year-old Michael Berg (David Kross) get home after he is violently ill in front of her apartment house. After spending several months in his own bed recovering from scarlet fever, he returns to thank her and ends up (eagerly) in hers.

The erotic sex scenes in the early part of the movie—reportedly delayed until Kross became 18 to avoid any legal difficulties—are handled deftly by director Stephen Daldry. The nudity is complete and uncontrived; that makes the lovemaking and the chemistry between the two seem all the more real. The boy comes across as being captivated with Hannah, and what teenage boy wouldn’t be with the attractive Winslet? For her part, Winslet portrays a character whose needs are being met with little or no emotion involved.

When Hannah ends the affair by suddenly disappearing, her actions cripple Michael emotionally. He never again allows any one to get close to him. As the older Michael Berg, Ralph Fiennes does a superb job of conveying the sadness and isolation he feels without seeming maudlin.

Winslet’s portrayal of Hannah Schmidt has resulted in a great deal of well-deserved accolades. So far she has received Best Supporting Actress awards from the Hollywood Foreign Press (a.k.a. Golden Globes) and the Broadcast Film Critics Association as well as the Outstanding Supporting Actress Award from her peers in the Screen Actors Guild. She has also been nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Actress category. Winslet delivers an incredible performance that allows most of us an inkling of understanding of how a very simple woman could make so many wrong choices because of her pride.

But it’s the performance of David Kross as the young Michael Berg that manages to convey the complex moral struggle that is the central theme of The Reader. Often with little or no dialogue, Kross very believably transforms from a virginal teenager into a cynical, morose law student. Let’s hope we see more of this kid, although after those sex scenes there isn’t much left to see.

Dickens on the Ganges
Slumdog Millionaire, co-directed by Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandan, may do for Indian cinema what Picnic at Hanging Rock and My Brilliant Career did for Australian film in the '70s. It's already snagged some awards and is in Oscar contention. Slumdog is a tough movie to pigeonhole, and if you have any interest in film as a storytelling form, you ought to see it.

The hero is Jamal—played at various ages by various actors and as an adult by Dev Patel. Born in a slum in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), Jamal and his older brother Salim (Madhur Mittal as an adult) lose their mother in an anti-Muslim riot and are forced to fend for themselves. All this is intriguingly told in retrospect, as the camera switches back and forth between the set of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and a police interrogation room. Jamal is playing for a 20 million-rupee jackpot on the trivia show, only to be arrested and charged with fraud. How could a "slumdog" with virtually no education know the answers to esoteric questions about Indian cinema, music or literature, let alone whose picture is on the US $100 bill? One by one, Jamal answers the interrogator's questions, and in doing so, tells his story of survival and the pursuit of true love.

Slumdog Millionaire is a textbook example of economy of effort achieving maximum results. Not one inch of film is wasted, and every shot takes the story toward resolution. The camera moves through the horrifyingly dirty and brutal Mumbai slums like a caffeinated William Hogarth, pairing brilliant colors with mountains of gray refuse. The sheer numbers of people crowding in together will make you claustrophobic. The soundtrack features a mix of traditional music with a sort of Indian hip hop, adding to—not taking from—the rolling momentum.

There are no big name stars here, though I recall Irrfan Khan (as the police interrogator) from his excellent work in 2007's A Mighty Heart. The casting and acting is spot-on across the board, and the look of the film draws us back and forth across the divide between India's snail-paced past and its furiously booming future. It's filthy, flashy, exotic and familiar all at once. Jamal is a guy you can root for, and what audience, Indian or American, can resist that?
- Bruce Collier

Langella’s Nixon Is Only Human After All
Here’s another worthy film that finally hit the local screens following the Academy Award nominations announcement. Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon is up for picture, director, adapted screenplay, editing and actor, the latter for Frank Langella’s extraordinary performance as the one-time Worst President Ever.

Langella and Michael Sheen reprise their roles from Peter Morgan’s long-running play, for which the former received Tony and Drama Desk awards. Sheen portrays British fluff journalist David Frost, a personality that had escaped my memory until about a year ago when I watched an old Saturday Night Live sketch that featuring Eric Idle as Frost lobbing softballs at Dan Aykroyd’s rambling Nixon. The film documents Frost’s battle to secure financing for a series of four 90-minute television interviews—this is fascinating enough, but it’s the reenactments of Frost’s conversations with the disgraced president that make the film as exciting as a heavyweight championship bout.

Howard deserves much of the credit for recognizing the power of the close-up and brilliantly building tension as we await Nixon’s confession of his many abuses of power. Aside from a glimpse of a crying Indian commercial in a background shot, the director avoids any touches of 1970s nostalgia—no mean feat for the guy who starred in American Graffiti and Happy Days.

This is not the first time we’ve seen Nixon on the big screen. Anthony Hopkins was great in Oliver Stone’s 1995 biopic, and Dan Hedaya’s comic turn in Andrew Fleming’s Dick is worth seeking out. But Langella brings something new to the role—a spark of humanity and more than a little vulnerability. Those who lived through Watergate and hated Tricky Dick may walk out of Frost/Nixon with a change of heart. Three decades of Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush will do that to you.
- Christopher Manson

Thoughts on Oscar
Richard Jenkins’ nomination for Best Actor is hardly a surprise to anyone who saw his understated work in The Visitor, currently available on DVD. Jenkins has provided memorable supporting and cameo turns in movies like Flirting with Disaster and Step Brothers, but this poignant character study shows a side of the man that is worthy of the gold statuette…Penelope Cruz, up for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of self-destructive artist Maria Elena in Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona, is but a small part of a terrific ensemble cast that includes previous Oscar winner Javier Bardem. The movie was released on DVD Jan. 27…Among the best song snubs—Bruce Springsteen’s thoughtful title song from The Wrestler and Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino,” available at music download stores as a solo performance by Jamie Cullum and an Eastwood-Cullum duet. And speaking of Eastwood, he should be up for Best Actor and Best Director. In the music department, Randy Newman’s whimsical score for George Clooney’s Leatherheads was also overlooked…The big snub, of course, was Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, aside from the late Heath Ledger’s nomination for Best Supporting Actor. At least the movie made a ton of money. Ledger will likely join Peter Finch in the posthumous winners circle; aside from that, the only sure thing is WALL*E as Best Animated Film.
- C.M.

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