This is a film that I took down from my shelf this morning in remembrance of the late, great actor Bruno Ganz. It's a long time since I last watched the film, an unjustifiably long time. I didn't even remember that Bruno Ganz appeared in the film. I remembered that it starred Karoline Herfurth in a supporting role, but she's someone I could never forget.
The film begins in 1995 with the lawyer Michael Berg looking back on his life. In 1958 in Berlin, at the age of 15, he fell in love with an older woman, Hanna Schmitz, a 36-year-old tram conductor. The affair only lasted for a few months, but it made an impression on him for the rest of his life. First love can do that. Every day he spent a few hours reading books to her, after which they made love. The sex was the most important to him, but the reading was the most important to her. She laughed and cried at the stories he read her. Then she moved out and left Berlin without telling him where it was going. The relationship ended as soon as it had begun.
In 1966 Michael was studying law in Heidelberg. Bruno Ganz was his professor. Together with a small group of the best students they visited the trial of six women, Auschwitz prison guards, who were accused of letting 300 women die in a burning church. Michael was shocked to see that Hanna was one of the six women. The other five women denied responsibility, but Hanna admitted and justified everything she had done, claiming the other women were equally guilty. In response they accused her of being the ringleader, telling them what to do and writing the report to their superiors about the action. Hanna denied having written the report, but when asked to give a handwriting sample she changed her testimony and admitted that she had written the report. Michael knew it wasn't true, because she couldn't read or write. She was merely ashamed of revealing to the world that she was illiterate. The other women received light sentences, but Hanna was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Some people might think of "The Reader" as a film about the Holocaust. That's not quite true. It's primarily a love story. The Holocaust is something that provides a background to the story. Hanna's complicity in the war crimes can't be denied, but she was a naive Mitläufer. Naive and uneducated. She worked as a guard, and she considered it her duty to do her job as best as she could. 20 years later her defence was that she was innocent because she was just following orders. As for the other five women, they were well aware of their guilt, but they lied to defend themselves. Hanna was honest in her testimony.
Karoline Herfurth plays Marthe, one of Michael's fellow law students.
I've always found her beautiful. She would have distracted me in the lectures.
Bruno Ganz admires her when they're sitting in court. I don't blame him in the least, but he should try to make it less obvious.
Bruno Ganz was an excellent actor in every role he played. There was something Shakespearean about him, if that's the correct word. Maybe a better word is regal. He has an imposing bearing in all his films, whether he's playing a university professor, a police chief or Adolf Hitler. His presence overwhelms the audience whenever he appears on screen. If you've seen any of his films you'll know what I mean.
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