Berlin, 1958. Michael Berg is a 15-year-old boy who crosses the path of Hanna, who is much older. During the summer, they have a passionate love affair, during which Michael reads books to Hanna. At the end of the summer, Hanna suddenly disappears. A few years later, in 1966, Michael, now a law student, attends the trial of six women, former SS guards. One of them is Hanna. Michael realises that Hanna has a secret; she is illiterate and would rather admit to writing a report that will get her imprisoned for life than reveal her secret. Michael will never visit her in prison, but he will tape all the books he read to her that summer and send them to her. This film is beautiful, even in what it shows about the death camps. I love Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet is just incredible as an illiterate woman. The actor who plays the young Michael Berg is very endearing. A great romance in a terrible context.
“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, forgive its vice. 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.”