I have watched a movie today- 2009 OSCAR Winner, The Reader. It's one good movie. Unforgettable and haunting.It's been stored in my external hard drive for some time already and I have not had the chance to watch it until now. I was just feeling bored and lonely after I have spent the whole day sleeping so I decided to watch a film. It was a tug of war between The Reader and The Milk and I am glad the former came out the victor. The movie is kind of heartbreaking but I refuse to only see the bad side. I've learned that there is always something good in every situation no matter how bad and awful it may seem.
I was never a fan of Kate Winslet, even after Titanic. But I must say that she gave the performance of a lifetime in this movie. No wonder she won the Oscar.
The film's setting is in 1958, Germany. It is about a teenage boy, Michael, who had a summer affair with Hanna, a woman twice his senior. He was on his way home from school one afternoon when he suddenly felt sick. Hanna found him throwing up in her doorway and she helped him, hugged him and sent him home. After some months of recuperation Michael went back to Hanna's place to express his gratitude with a bouquet of flowers.
While putting on her stockings, Hanna, saw Michael spying on her behind her door that was slightly ajar. When their gaze locked, he fled in shame. But he found himself on her doorstep again the following day, wanting to see her. And this time Hanna seduced him. That started the affair between them.
Then you go wonder- what does that have to do with a reader? Well, at her bidding, it has become a routine for Michael to read to Hanna first before she would make love to him. Being young and all, and never been with a woman before, Michael was enamored with her. He was just more than happy to please her and to read to her story after story. Hanna however was somewhat always matter-of-factly with him, unfeeling and was apathetic for most of the time. She never even bothered to ask his name even after the third encounter. She is the kind who lives an empty and lonely life on her own, with nothing much to look forward to.
One day, she just disappeared from his life without so much as a good bye. Michael was devastated but had no choice but to go forward and get on with his life. Over a decade after, he went to law school and there he tried to live life and escape a past that was so brief yet painful and haunting.
But fate has a plan of its own. And that is to bring them together once again. This time the setting was in a courtroom. Being a law student the now grown up Michael took a seminar on the Holocaust. The class attended the joint trial of former guards of the concentration camp. Michael was surprised to see Hanna as one of the defendants but she was oblivious of his presence. She was being charged of sending Jewish women to death. During the testimony, it was revealed that Hanna would order the prisoners to read to her at night. Michael suddenly realized that Hanna was illiterate all along. The other fellow guards accused Hanna of being the instigator of the crime. But instead of submitting a handwriting sample to disprove their claims, Hanna chose to agree to them. Michael went to see Hanna in the prison to try to convince her to tell the truth but on second thought retreated because he was not ready to expose his own shameful past with her. Hanna was sentenced to life imprisonment just because she was ashamed to admit her lack. How far does one go to protect one's humiliating secret?
As an adult, Michael had become emotionally withdrawn. Even his marriage did not last and he was distant from his own daughter. When he stumbled upon the books that he had once read to Hanna, he decided to re-establish the connection between them. He read all the books again to a voice recorder and sent the tapes to Hanna in prison. Hanna was happy and inspired because Michael kept her company through his recorded readings. And it's never too late to learn. Using Michael's voice as her guide, she taught herself to read and write. She would send him letters but he never wrote back. Upon her parole, Michael was the one who was chosen to be her sponsor due to the fact that he was the sole contact she has outside of prison. He reluctantly agreed though. He went to see her a week before her release and for the first time after she sneaked out of his life many years ago, they met again face to face. It was an uncomfortable encounter with both of them acting aloof around each other.
When finally it was time for her release. Michael went back to pick her up but only to find out that she had committed suicide.
Heartbreaking isn't it? It made me cry a bucket of tears! But I refuse to totally dampen my spirits. I know that not all love stories, like this one, have a happy ending. But at least, even though it is tragic, it is still a love story! Forgive me for being cheesy here but I am just a sucker for Romance! It just always inspires me to learn lessons of love. Today, I have learned that love can happen to anyone, in all ages, or between two people in a not so perfect set up or in the most inappropriate of encounters, or to those whose differences are world's apart. And no matter how brief the experience was or how seemingly wrong the whole thing was, especially in the eyes of others, once you have found your true love, you can never deny it no matter how much you want to because it will consume your whole being and forever haunt you. And it will not even matter anymore if the other person never fully reciprocated your love. In the end what matters most is to allow yourself to express the truth in your heart even if you can never posses the object of that love, and to be there in whatever way possible (even as simple as reading to her from a recorder) for that one person you have always truly loved. And only then will life have its color and meaning.
