"It doesn't matter what I feel. It doesn't matter what I think. The dead are still dead." – Hanna Schmitz

When The Reader hit the box offices in 2008 I asked a friend what it was about, to which she responded, "Well, it's a love story." While the film does start out with an affair, passionate, forbidden, erotic, and tragically doomed, all the makings of an epic love story, anyone who can sum this film up as being just a love story wasn't really paying attention.

Chronologically, the story begins in a very well-created post WWII Era Germany, when 15 year old Michael Berg (David Ross) meets 35 year old Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet). Their affair lasts three months during which time Michael discovers that Hanna greatly enjoys being read to. Then as suddenly as it began, it ends, when Hanna disappears with no warning on Michael's 16th birthday.

Eight years later, while attending a trial with his law school class, Michael discovers that Hanna is one of the defendants being tried along with six other former Auschwitz guards. It's during this trial that the real story behind The Reader becomes clear. This is a story of fear, pride, arrogance, and apathy, the characteristics responsible for most of the atrocities committed throughout the history of the human race. As Michael tries to make sense of Hanna's actions, the viewer gets an in-depth look at the many complexities of the German people's participation in the war. Ultimately, the film leaves the viewer with more questions than answers, spawning endless internal debates on the nature of responsibility and consequence. Oh, and also, it's a love story.

Special Features:
Deleted Scenes (11 scenes, total runtime = 42 min.)
Adapting a Timeless Masterpiece: Making The Reader (23 min.)
A Conversation With David Kross & Stephen Daldry (10 min.)
Kate Winslet on the Art of Aging Hanna Schmitz (13 min.)
A New Voice: A Look at Composer Nico Muhly (4 min.)
Coming to Grips With the Past: Production Designer Brigitte Broch (7 min.)
Theatrical Trailer

There are some great special features on this DVD, including several deleted scenes that really should have been part of the film because of the amount of clarity they added to some of the main themes, and a great piece with Kate Winslet about what it was like aging her character over 40 years.

ComicsOnline gives The Reader 4.5 out of 5 culpable civilian contractors.