Kate Winslet received her 6th Oscar nomination and won the Oscar for playing Hanna Schmitz, a German woman who has an affair with a teenage boy named Michael(David Kross) and through the eyes of the later, is eventually revealed to be a former SS guard.
When thinking ahead to the 81st Academy Awards 10 years ago, I had this image in my head of Kate Winslet's name being called as Best Actress was announced and receiving her long overdue recognition from the Academy. But for Revolutionary Road, which was one of the most anticipated films of the year that ended up coming out too late in the season to gain any traction in the BP and BD races. Still, Winslet's performance was considered to be a near-lock for a Best Actress nomination as was her candidacy in the Supporting Actress category for The Reader, a film that was mixed in terms of reception but was doing fairly well all the same, especially for Winslet who garnered the Broadcast Critics Choice Award as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. Trouble was is that she also picked up the Leading Actress in a Drama award for RR, which made people wonder which film would she be honored for or would she somehow be shut out? Well, it turned out that the Academy made the decision to put her performance in The Reader in the Leading Category, snubbing her RR performance and making her the de-facto frontrunner for Best Actress, especially after triumphing at SAG and The Reader getting surprise nods for Best Picture and Best Director. Winslet was clearly overdue and while Meryl was great in Doubt, her momentum came too late to best Winslet while Anne Hathaway was hampered by her film's lack of support as well as the fact that she had other chances ahead of her. Neither Melissa Leo or Angelina Jolie had any chance of winning.
The Reader is actually a film that I greatly admire- Unlike a lot of Holocaust films that are honored at the Oscars, the film explores the aftermath of the Holocaust itself and the way that post World War 2 Germany views the actions of those who took part in and stood by the Nazi regime and how those two generations try to communicate in order to understand Nazi Germany's actions. The film is extremely well directed and well acted all around and is a powerful story, although too simplistic at times.
Anyway, Winslet plays Hanna, a woman who is very cold and calculated, yet also passionate, strong, authoritative. In the first half of the film, Winslet shows us her many shades both unlikeable and like-able- her somewhat callous treatment of Michael, her love of stories, her passion for romance and intimacy. Hanna is an enigma in many ways, but is also very close to us: We understand why Michael falls in love with her and why she falls in love with him. There are many superb moments in Winslet's portrayal of Hanna in the first half of the film, particularly the church scene which takes place on a trip that she and Michael take together. She is luminous and fascinating to watch.
The middle half of the film presents us with a much different view of Hanna, although it does not appear that she has changed much since she ended her affair with Michael. She is on trial for war crimes, that she allegedly committed in the course of her work as an SS guard. Hanna is the only woman out of all the guards who openly admits her actions, which eventually lead to her being scapegoated by her fellow defendants. Winslet is quite riveting here, showing sides of vulnerability that we have not seen the full extent of in Hanna before as well as Hanna's strength and reserved nature.
The third act of the film is where she is sadly held back a little by the ridiculous age makeup(LOL), but Winslet still shows Hanna's internal changes and reflections. Her choices and morals are still a mystery, but Winslet makes the character of Hanna Schmitz mesmerizing to watch. A fascinating and beautiful portrayal. She gets
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