You would think that The Reader, a film about Michael Berg's memories of his relationship with an S.S. guard, would be more emotionally affecting than a law school textbook. Unfortunately, though, this latest World War II drama is about as heart-wrenching as the aforementioned educational staple; the film tackles the hefty moral issues that compose its core from a lawyer's point of view rather than a lover's, and the result is a sterile, heavy-handed affair. Of course, The Reader isn't entirely devoid of emotion; it's just that the film decides to be heavy-hitting at all the wrong moments. Initially, when the 15-year-old Berg (David Kross) and Kate Winslet's 36-year-old Hanna Schmidtz begin their brief love affair, The Reader is in tune with its characters' sentiments. With teenage lust and emotional instability clashing onscreen, The Reader begins with a promising roar. (Indeed, throughout the film, those scenes featuring performances by Kross and Winslet are the film's best; it is no wonder that she won the Golden?Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her work in The Reader.)

However, as the plot progresses and the film moves from the bedroom to the courtroom, it begins to flounder and become a film of extremes. Apparently, The Reader is capable of conveying only raw emotion, and cannot operate on a more subtle level. For, as soon as the movie attempts to address Hanna's degree of guilt regarding both her status as a sexual predator and a Nazi ringleader the cast (Kross and Winslet notwithstanding) becomes a boring, analytical group that pontificates on Hanna's actions rather than debating them with other characters. In fact, for a film with such sensitive subject matter, it is amazingly devoid of conflict.

It doesn't help matters that the sets are drab and characterized primarily by fluorescent lights. I know courts, classrooms and dorms aren't particularly dynamic locales, but if your script is going to be so incredibly dry, you have to compensate for it somewhere.

And, it seems that The Reader attempted to do so through the film's female personalities. However, rather than develop the characters of Berg's daughter, his high school friend and his college sweetheart and consequently create persons with whom Berg could have bonded, The Reader instead chose to only showcase said characters for five minute intervals throughout the movie during which they provide over-the-top reactions to Berg's presence. Furthermore, it seems as though these women are only present to provide a foil to Hanna and demonstrate how "normal" women act under emotional duress.

The film's imagery, when attempting to answer the moral issues The Reader raises tends to be a bit contrived as well. Whenever it raises the question as to whether this is Hanna's first affair with an underage person, or whether her relationship with Michael is merely the result of a good deed gone awry, the movie parades a group of children into her line of sight, and Hanna's eyes follow obligingly.

On the other hand, the film is at times successful in its attempt to address emotions through certain scenes: When Michael, after hearing of Hanna's role as an S.S. guard, visits a former concentration camp and silently passes cages upon cages filled with shoes, the implications of Hanna's involvement are effectively-and stirringly-conveyed.

In light of all this, is it worth it to venture to theaters to see the story of The Reader, or is one better off picking up a copy of the Bernhard Schlink novel on which the film is based? Alas, I have not read the source material so I cannot give a definitive answer, but seeing as the literary version does not contain Winslet and Kross' amazing performances, it may be worthwhile to set aside The Reader's flaws and see the cinematic adaptation.