29 July 2009

"The Reader"

Soooooooooo. Watched "The Reader" with Kate Winslet yesterday.......I am alarmed that I can't pin down my emotions about the whole experience. They ran the gamut --- sympathy for the sick child (and I do mean CHILD), horror at the immediate explosion into a sexual relationship with said child, disgust with Hannah, sadness for Hannah, empathy for Hannah, repulsed by Hannah, sympathy for Michael, admiration for Michael. Do you sense a pattern. I really was so torn. I mean it. I was tremendously sad for Hannah and her ignorance --- and the illiteracy that played such a huge part in her choices in life and death. But I was also completely appalled that a fellow member of the human race could participate in the vile acts she recounted.

Yes, it is a movie. But it could be fact. Certainly there were many, MANY German citizens who worked in the camps and participated in all manners of atrocity. And there were those who just 'did their job' and may not have been as clued in to the master plan they were part of. Most of them went on with their lives and raised families........

Anyway. The Holocaust is haunting on so very many levels. And this movie introduced a new component to my feelings about it all.

It was excellent and I highly recommend it. But be prepared for your emotions to be challenged and to feel unsure, for a time, how you really feel about it all. Complicated to be sure.

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