The Reader

What a fine story ... I can't imagine how anyone can craft such characters and such a plot.

Now, I've not read the book, but how I enjoyed the movie.

It took awhile ... at first, what is this? As the young Michael Berg (David Kross) has a summer affair with Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet). From the get-to, you know that something is wrong, though tragic is the better word. Hanna is searching for something, and the young man is drawn into her sorrow.

The acting is superb on all counts. David Kross brings to life the angst and the lust of a 15-year old boy, both innocent and madly in love.

Kate Winslet - incredible. Her face is the face of sorrow and hidden depths. A story that needs to be told, but can only be hinted at.

As they lay entwined in one another's arms, she has him read to her, one book after the other, bringing tears to her eyes at times.

And then, one day, she's gone, and that's the last of it until Micheal, now a law student, attends a trial of concentration camp guards charged with the death of 300 Jews allowed to burn to death in a church on fire, the result of Allied bombs.

The law students and their professor attend the trial, and there sits Hanna, along with others, charged with the heinous crime.

When questioned, she's totally innocent - "They were under our guard. We couldn't let them out. What would have happened?"

When the judge reviews the written documents, he asks her if she wrote the report. He asks for a sample of her handwriting, a table and pencil put in front of her. She looks at it, and says, "It's not necessary; I wrote the report."

Her secret? She can neither read nor write, and though a simple confession of that fact could have saved her, years of hiding it, years of shame about it, compel her to maintain the secret, and she alone is given a life-time sentence. The others, only a few years.

For Micheal Berg, it all falls into place - and for the audience as well ... in some tragic fashion, was her love for the boy some means of atonement? As it turns out, she made prisoners do the same - read to her. Is she a monster? Is she a tormented soul? Somewhere in between?

Michael Berg goes to the prison to tell her that he knows her secret, but at the last minute, walks away. He could have entered what he knew, but he didn't. So begins another secret! His.

After a failed marriage in the midst of his own law career (now older, played by an amazing Ralph Fiennes), he reaches out to her - he sends her tapes - he reads to her, book after book, and in time, she begins the arduous process of learning how to read and write. It's quite extraordinary how this unfolds in the movie.

But I've already told you too much, though I've left a good deal for you to see on your own.

Don't miss this powerful film under the direction of Stephen Daldry.

Revolutionary Road

A tour de force of sadness ... this is a tough film, yet one of the finest films I've seen. Hats off to Sam Mendes for bringing this powerful story to the silver screen. And thanks to Paramount Vantage (and others) for this incredible achievement.

Set in the Connecticut suburbs of the mid-fifties, we watch a young, up-and-coming, family make their way into life, and into chaos.

Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler and their two children are living the American Dream, or is it a nightmare?

At the heart of the story, a conflict - between dreams and reality.

When I counsel, I often use the A-B Game - where A is our reality and B is our dream. What we all know is this: reality is complex and filled with bits and pieces we could never have foreseen. Whereas a day-dream is clear and happy - that's the nature of a day-dream. It's always better than what we have, and what we have pales in comparison to the meanderings of our imagination. When we play the A-B Game, reality always looses!


Paris in springtime, or scrambled eggs in Connecticut. Hands down, Paris wins.


At what point is a dream worth it?


And, at what point should we seek our dreams in our reality? Just how bad is our reality anyway?


If the story has a point, it's this: a dream held unreasonably can kill! But ... and that's the point as well ... should we just chuck our reality, if we can (and they could), and go full-tilt for Paris? Maybe. Maybe not!


Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet) - the perfect family. He's employed in the same company for which his dad worked. He's a young executive, but he doens't want to be there. He really doesn't know what he wants to do. Mrs. Wheeler's the quintessential Fifties housewife - a great dinner scene - all the recipes of the Fifties, including a pineapple with goodies affixed by toothpick - someone did their homework. The cars, the decor - it's all the Fifties, in all of its glory, and stifling horror!

The office environment in which he works - the men rule; the women serve. The neighborhood - where pretense and image are everything. We're happy, aren't we?


The Wheelers both yearn for something neither of them understand.


So they hatch a plan - we have enough money along with selling the house, and we can move to Paris, to fined ourselves and what it is that we need to be and do. But Mr. Wheeler doesn't really know what he wants. But that's okay. Mrs. Wheeler will go to work for the State Deparment - the pay is good, and Mr. Wheeler can think and write, and find out what he wants.


What a dream - it's shared with co-workers and neighbors, but Mr. Wheeler drags his feet.


And then, a promotion offered, and an unexpected development - suddenly the dream is in jeopardy.


The audience watches Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler do a slow-motion plunge into chaos.


So what's the dream?
What's the reality?
Where's the interface?
Who are we?
And what's it all about?


If you go, be prepared for a soul-searching experience. Go with some friends, exit quietly, head for a restaurant, grab a couple of stiff drinks and let the conversation begin.