Oscar Movie Review - "The Reader"

Hmm, not sure how to review this movie, the second of the Best Picture nominees I've seen. Parts of it are really good and parts of it are, well, kinda not so good (I'll get to that later).

The movie is primarily set in the late 50's and 60's in Germany, where a young man has an affair with an older woman, who has a secret past which he finds out about later in the movie. It's this later part that is really well done and the most compelling part of the movie. It deals a lot with how Germans have come to terms with their past and asks the question who was and who wasn't guilty during the Nazi regime. Very good stuff here.

However, the affair part during the first part of the movie is a little unsettling. You see, the "young man" is only 15. So, well, there you have it. There's quite a bit of nudity in this section (note to Pam, Kate Winslet is the new Susan Sarandon) and it is just a bit uncomfortable seeing a bedroom scene between characters that are supposed to be 15 and 30. I coulda done without that.

So, I can recommend the final 2/3 of the movie, but the first 1/3, not so much.