The Reader (2008)

Actors: Kirsten Block (actress), Margarita Broich (actress), Carmen-Maja Antoni (actress), Martin Brambach (actor), Burghart Klaußner (actor), Ralph Fiennes (actor), Jürgen Tarrach (actor), Fritz Roth (actor), Bruno Ganz (actor), Sylvester Groth (actor), Joachim Tomaschewsky (actor), Matthias Habich (actor), Fabian Busch (actor), Jeanette Hain (actress), Marie Gruber (actress),

Plot: THE READER opens in post-war Germany when teenager Michael Berg becomes ill and is helped home by Hanna, a stranger twice his age. Michael recovers from scarlet fever and seeks out Hanna to thank her. The two are quickly drawn into a passionate but secretive affair. Michael discovers that Hanna loves being read to and their physical relationship deepens. Hanna is enthralled as Michael reads to her from "The Odyssey," "Huck Finn" and "The Lady with the Little Dog." Despite their intense bond, Hanna mysteriously disappears one day and Michael is left confused and heartbroken. Eight years later, while Michael is a law student observing the Nazi war crime trials, he is stunned to find Hanna back in his life - this time as a defendant in the courtroom. As Hanna's past is revealed, Michael uncovers a deep secret that will impact both of their lives. THE READER is a story about truth and reconciliation, about how one generation comes to terms with the crimes of another.

Keywords: 15-year-old, 16-year-old, 1940s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, absolution, adolescent, age-difference
Genres: Drama, Romance,
Taglines: How far would you go to protect a secret? Unlock the mystery. Behind the mystery lies a truth that will make you question everything you know.

Quotes:

Michael: What are you doing? What is this? Why did you behave as if you didn't know me?::Hanna Schmitz: You didn't want to know me! You could see I was in the first carriage. So why did you get on the second?::Michael: What did you think I was doing? Why the hell did you think I was there?::Hanna Schmitz: How should I know? I've been working. I need a bath, and I'd like to be by myself. Would you please leave?::Michael: I didn't mean to upset you.::Hanna Schmitz: You don't have the power to upset me. You don't matter enough to upset me.

Michael: I don't know what to say. I've never been with a woman before. We've been together four weeks, and I can't live without you. I can't. Even the thought of it kills me.

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

Young Ilana Mather: [Testifying in court] Each of the guards would choose a certain number of women. Hanna Schmitz chose differently.::Judge: In what way differently?::Young Ilana Mather: She had favourites. Girls, mostly young. We all remarked on it, she gave them food and places to sleep. In the evening, she asked them to join her. We all thought - well, you can imagine what we thought. Then we found out - she was making these women read aloud to her. They were reading to her. At first we thought this guard... this guard is more sensitive... she's more human... she's kinder. Often she chose the weak, the sick, she picked them out, she seemed to be protecting them almost. But then she dispatched them. Is that kinder?

Michael: I'm not frightened. I'm not frightened of anything. The more I suffer, the more I love. Danger will only increase my love. It will sharpen it, it will give it spice. I will be the only angel you need. You will leave life even more beautiful than you entered it. Heaven will take you back and look at you and say: Only one thing can make a soul complete, and that thing is love.

Professor Rohl: You have been skipping seminars.::Michael: I have a piece of information, concerning one of the defendants. Something they do not admitting.::Professor Rohl: What information? You don't need to tell me. It's perfectly clear you have a moral obligation to disclose it to the court.::Michael: It happens this information is favorable to the defendant. It can help her case. It may even affect the outcome, certainly the sentencing.::Professor Rohl: So?::Michael: There's a problem. The defendant herself is determined to keep this information secret.::Professor Rohl: What are her reasons?::Michael: Because she's ashamed.::Professor Rohl: Ashamed of what? Have you spoken to her?::Michael: Of course not.::Professor Rohl: Why "of course not"?::Michael: I can't. I can't do that. I can't talk to her.::Professor Rohl: What we feel isn't important. It's utterly unimportant. The only question is what we do. If people like you don't learn from what happened to people like me, then what the hell is the point of anything?

Hanna Schmitz: [to Michael] You don't have the power to upset me. You don't matter enough to upset me.

[first lines]::Brigitte: You didn't wake me.::Michael Berg: You were sleeping.::Brigitte: You let me sleep because you can't bear to have breakfast with me.

[last lines]::Michael Berg: I was fifteen. I was coming home from school. I was feeling ill. And a woman helped me.

Teacher: The notion of secrecy is central to western literature. You may say, the whole idea of character is defined by people holding specific information which for various reasons, sometimes perverse, sometimes noble, they are determined not to disclose.

Smierc rotmistrza Pileckiego (2006)

Actors: Lukasz Simlat (actor), Tomasz Dedek (actor), Marek Probosz (actor), Anna Gornostaj (actress), Ryszard Bugajski (director), Ryszard Bugajski (writer), Zbigniew Suszynski (actor), Marek Kalita (actor), Grzegorz Emanuel (actor), Magdalena Gnatowska (actress), Agnieszka Mandat-Grabka (actress), Piotr Grabowski (actor), Ewa Romanowska-Rózewicz (editor), Andrzej Niemirski (actor), Jan Monczka (actor),

Genres: Drama,