Who went to the Essen premiere??

Very excited to see pictures from the Essen premiere! Looks like David also gave interviews. Anyone went there?? Please tell us about it! Thank you!

not much about the premiere atm but i found some pics

http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/OZsUANJs-YL/The+Reader+Essen+Premiere/0HmSQD7f0zZ/David+Kross

i think there will be more in the evening

Thank you Nick. I'd love to know how this film is received in Germany.

On a separate note, did you get a chance to visit the message boards for the Reader and David at IMDB site? There're many good threads of healthy discussions about the film. (and some not so kind) Thought you might be interested. Hope to "see" you there... and here of course!

http://www.wdr.de/mediathek/html/regional/2009/02/25/lokalzeit-ruhr-vorleser-premiere.xml

interview with david from the premier in essen

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I read a little bit on the IMDB boards but i don't like the navigation there...and i get sick if i read a lot of the crap there

I don't see the need to discuss over and over again the sex-scenes and which kind of sex they practise.
I'm also geeting tired of reading over and over again the outrage in the us if there is nudity in a movie. I think somebody have to remember the ppl there from time to time that the US have the biggest porn industrie in the world.
Of course we in europe or especial in germany don't care that much about nudity in a movie, magazine or in the publik. Maybe we should care sometimes a little bit more but I think we do it ok the way we do it.

To allow kid's to shoot with really dangerous guns and let them see the bloodiest movies but to outrage if there is a naked breast or butt on the screen make not that much sense to me and i'm allways geeting pissed if I read such crap.
No offend against you but i'm getting angry if i read the boards there and i wish to write a lot of my thinkings but my english is too bad to write what i want to write.

Also the lot of writings "not another holocaust movie" or "you want an oscar? make an holosaust movie" makes me headshacking...it's so obvious that this movie is not even close to a holocaust movie...of course the holocaust takes his part in the movie but the maintheme is love, love, love, post war time, the post war generation and guilt

sorry if i'm a little bit rude

Thank Nick for the interview link. Could I trouble you to translate just the highlights of David said? Like what did he talk about his experience at the Oscar? Did he talk about celebrating Kate’s victory with her at all? I can’t seem to find a single picture of David, Kate and her golden Statuette. At one point, David said something sounded similar to the English word “familiar” and laughed. What was that about? Many thanks and only if you have time.

I understand and sympathize with you about the negativities sometimes going on at these boards at IMDB. But I don’t take them too personally. You’ll always have people of all sorts coming onto these boards thinking they are expressing opinions but in reality they are just making fools of themselves. Such are also part of life. You can not control what kind of people you meet. I usually just ignore threads that are negative and not worthy of my time. Don’t let them get to you. They’re not worth it, certainly not worth getting sick over them!

I totally agree with you about the whole American fascination about nudity and sex scenes. The analogy to guns couldn’t be more right on. I often use the same argument! Which is worse, violence and killing or consensual sex?

Many at the Board indeed did not understand the full depth of the movie. The author and film makers used the love story of Hanna and Michael as a literary vehicle to convey the complexity of guilt the second generation of post WWII Germany were forced to face. It is not a holocaust movie. Unfortunately many, including those esteemed film critics, view this movie as a Holocaust film thus judged it harshly. Holocaust is simply a backdrop of this complex story.

Nick, your English is very good. I think you should express yourself at these Boards. There are some good threads out there. The Reader has been out in the States since December 2008 perhaps you want to click through a few pages to find older threads. Anyway, just a suggestion.

I do want to get your take on the age of Michael when the affair started. When I watched this film, it didn’t bother at all to see Kate Winslet and David together. But when I saw Knallhart which was shot when David was 15 going onto 16, exactly the age the young Michael was when he embarked on the love affair with Hanna. I have to say I would have trouble picturing the 15 year old David with Kate. He looked like a little boy in Knallhart. Does it not bother you? Or is it something really acceptable in Germany? I remember reading a comment by a German that the age of consent in Germany is 14.

BTW, it is not rude if you expresses your opinion! That’s what discussion is all about!

hey thx!
man merkt den jetlag

Maybe i will read a little bit more at the IMDB boards.

If i understand the translation of "age of consent" right you mean the age when you turn into an adult with all rights?

The german law is a little bit complicated there. If you are 18 you are an adult with all rights but if you do some crime the law says until 21 you are adjudged as a teenager. If you are younger than 14 nobody can adjudge you for any crime.(i know it's stupid and a lot of ppl think that we should lower the age to 12)

You are allowed to have sex if you are 14 or older but if the partner is 18+ it's a crime by the law and maybe a crime if you are 16+. Also a little bit complicated to explain.

The age of the first sexual experiences goes younger and younger in the last years. It's mostly a problem of the wrong breeding, the media, friends and our free thinking and handling of nudity and sexuality. A lot of 14/15 years old girls have sexual experiences. Sometimes with 11 or 12 which is a way to young in my opinion. For boys make it 1-2 years more.

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The case of Hanna and Michael is a little bit strange. It`s a crime by the law and for me it's really disgusting if I read about such a case in the newspaper but i did not have that strange feelings if I look at Hanna and Michael. I don't know exactly why. Maybe because David looks not that young and i liked to see when they fall in love. Maybe because i feel some sort of mercy with Hanna and her strange feelings/situation

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I try to translate the important facts from the interview later or tomorrow. I have not that much time atm

Here’s the definition of age of consent:
The age of consent is the age at or above which a person is considered to have the legal capacity to consent to sexual activity. It looks like the age of consent in Germany is 14. In the US, each state sets its own age of consent (also referred as coming of age law). It ranges from 16 – 18 depending on the state.

The age for first sexual experience in US is also getting younger. I think there’s a new show called Diary of American teenagers, or something like that, which deals with teen sex and pregnancy etc. I suppose this is a trend in many countries. Kids are maturing much faster than their age.

I personally find the love affair between Hanna and Michael erotic rather than disgusting. This probably has something to do with the actual age of Kate and David. David is 17 going onto 18 and Kate is 33 when the film is made. On screen, David looks like a young man not a boy. The 3 years in age make a big difference when you are a teen. And Kate certainly does not look like his mother.

Don’t worry about the translation. Only if you have time. Thanks

katkat schrieb:

hey thx!
man merkt den jetlag

He does look tired. His face looked puffed. But he is still very cute.

Ok then the age of consent is 14 in germany. The 3 definations i found for "age of consent" are more close to the "full age" term.

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For me it's also more erotic than disgusting and it looks like a real deep love. It's ok if somebody think that the "abuse" of the kid leads to circumstances which affects his whole life. But I don't think that the abuse is responsible therefore. The feelings, the love, the disappointment that she leaves him without a word, the experiances which everyone have with his/her first love and especial michael's own personal guilt are in my opinion responsible for Michael's path of life and the fact that he was never ever that happy again than with Hanna.

translation of the interview:( i have to say that it is not that easy to translate it because it is often wrong if you translate something 1 to 1. Some words have another meaning in english than in german even if i use the right translated word...escpecial the idoms are hard to translate)

Q:You still must have a jet lag!? Just in L.A at the Oscars now here. How was it there? What sort of impressions did you bring with you
D:Yes of course i still have a jet lag but i look forward to see the movie first time in german now.

Q:You had to answer a lot of questions until now and mostly the first question was: how was it? How was kate and to work with her and how was the shooting?
D:Awesome....absolutely...a totaly uncomplicated woman..none sort of a diva...she is not out of the tough with the real world, totaly down-to earth...very professional and she was able to create an athmosphere at the set which helped me a lot especialy to master the difficult scenes.
Q:There were some love scenes in the movie. How much overcoming did you need and how did you prepare yourself therefor?
D:A lot of overcoming but i think that it is not realy possible to prepare yourself therefor. Of course i thought a lot about it but mainly you have to think about the more difficult scenes( he means here the scenes which are going more into deep and where you need a lot of stagecraft(mimic etc) i don't know how to tranlate it correctly)
Q:I it true that you had to break the shooting because you was not 18 and you need to be to shoot the love-scenes?
D:Yes thats true. We had to wait 1 or 2 month until i got 18 and than we made the scenes.
Q: At the oscars and the berlinale you were pronouced as THE shooting star. How do you handle this and how do you manage to stay down-to-earth.
D:Family!! They embrace(i'm not sure if the word is correct...one word in german 20 different translations in english ^^) me as a normal person and look at me as a normal person and so you are able to stay down-to-earth.
Q:Are there more/new offers from Hollywood?
D:No, not that I know.
Q:Have a nice time and thank you blabla etc // end

Nick schrieb:

For me it's also more erotic than disgusting and it looks like a real deep love. It's ok if somebody think that the "abuse" of the kid leads to circumstances which affects his whole life. But I don't think that the abuse is responsible therefore. The feelings, the love, the disappointment that she leaves him without a word, the experiances which everyone have with his/her first love and especial michael's own personal guilt are in my opinion responsible for Michael's path of life and the fact that he was never ever that happy again than with Hanna.

I too pondered over whether it was the affair with Hanna that left Michael scarred for life. Did you read the book? In the book, it was rather clear that Michael was deeply hurt by Hanna’s sudden disappearance. She left him without a word. He blamed himself (he believed that it was his own “denial of Hanna” (he viewed this lack of acknowledgement as a form of betrayal) that led to Hanna’s sudden departure. Michael never opened up himself to anyone afterwards. He didn’t’ want to ever feel vulnerable again. In the film, I think Daldry used a symbol of baptism (we see Michael swimming naked in the school pool) to show that a new Michael is about to emerge. (Just my personal take of the scene)

I think what ultimately shaped Michael’s fate was the trial and his own lack of action: the shock of discovering that the perfect woman he once so deeply loved was capable of committing such monstrous crime; and the shock of discovering Hanna’s secret. Michael chose to do nothing about it. There were quite a few threads in IMDB discussing why he chose to take no action. After all, was it because his love for Hanna since she certainly viewed illiteracy more shameful and was willing to serve a life sentence? Or was it because of his conflicted guilt? Michael would have to reveal his own affair with Hanna in order to save her from the harsh sentence. I think it was a mix of both. But in the end he chose to take no action thus forever sealed his own fate. Michael was never able to shake off enormous guilt – he technically betrayed Hanna again.

The German guilt is the main theme of this film. The fact that many normal Germans chose inaction during WWII was the key reason why Hitler’s Third Reich succeeded. The question, as I understand, many post WWII Germans asked themselves was “how did we LET this happen?” Hanna chose duty and inaction when she watched all her prisoners die in a fire. We could argue that Hanna lacked certain mental capacity and moral obligation to appreciate the severity of the situation. But Michael, who was far more educated and certainly possesses the mental capacity - after all he was a law student! He too chose inaction thus sealed Hanna’s fate and inadvertently let the other criminals off with a much less sentence!

I hope I’m not boring you with all these interpretations and analyses. This movie has so many layers and depth! (or maybe I just read too much into it.. What can I tell you? I love this film!)

Nick schrieb:

translation of the interview:( i have to say that it is not that easy to translate it because it is often wrong if you translate something 1 to 1. Some words have another meaning in english than in german even if i use the right translated word...escpecial the idoms are hard to translate)

Nick,
Thank you sooooo much for the translation! Translation is a daunting task. Now I understand why Google translation keeps confusing me. There are 20 some English words to one German word. Wonderful. No wonder I keep scratching my head solving a puzzle every time I read these google translations.

I’m glad to learn that David was seeing the film for the first time in German. Didn't know that. I think he did his own voice over, right? All these interviewers keep asking the same questions – how was it with Kate, how about the sex scenes. Poor David had to repeat his answers over and over again. You'd think that they do some homeworks and ask some new questions.

So it was FAMILY not familiar! He seems to have a down to earth family. Good for him. I love his polite manner and humbleness. Hope his family will keep him this way!

I’m a bit disappointed about the no Hollywood offer for our David. The two kids from Slumdogs both have new offers from Hollywood! David is seriously under appreciated. I hope his time will come, and come fast! Can’t wait to see him in another Hollywood English production! Thank you again!

genieinabottle schrieb:

I hope I’m not boring you with all these interpretations and analyses. This movie has so many layers and depth! (or maybe I just read too much into it.. What can I tell you? I love this film!)

Of course not! I like it very much to read and make interpretations, analyses and discussions . My german teacher was allways a little bit scared to read my test's because they were mostly double or more the length of the others. But most of the time i got high marks for it. But as i said it's a little bit difficult to discuss something on such a high level in a foreign language. The godd thing is that there is not that much to discuss because i can agree with most of your points

I only want to add one point which i think is very important for the judgement of Hanna. It's a fact that a iliterate person is mostly unable to think and live in terms like past,present and future. They live allways now without any thinking of the past and the future. Thats in my opion a possible reason why Hanna was only at the end able to feel some sort of guilt and it was the first moment in her life where she realised the effect of her past doings.

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I love to read and i read really much but i didn't read the book until now. But i think i will buy it this week.

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The problem of the translation is in both directions. 1 german word with 20 possible english translations or 1 english word with 20 possible german translations. Normaly you need an oxford english-english dictionary to make an good translation because you have the whole definitions there. But i hope my tranlations are good enough so that you are able to understand most of it.

Nick schrieb:

My german teacher was allways a little bit scared to read my test's because they were mostly double or more the length of the others. But most of the time i got high marks for it. But as i said it's a little bit difficult to discuss something on such a high level in a foreign language.

LOL. I'm sure your German teacher is very impressed with your analytical mind. Most literature teachers appreciate that. Your English is really very good. I'm not complimenting you out of politeness. Very impressed with your grammar and choice of words.

Nick schrieb:

I only want to add one point which i think is very important for the judgement of Hanna. It's a fact that a iliterate person is mostly unable to think and live in terms like past,present and future. They live allways now without any thinking of the past and the future. Thats in my opion a possible reason why Hanna was only at the end able to feel some sort of guilt and it was the first moment in her life where she realised the effect of her past doings.

Thank you for this insightful comment. I never thought about it. I sort of ruined my experience of this film because I had seen part of the Charlie Rose interview with Kate, David, Daldry and Hare so I already knew that Hanna was illiterate before I saw the film. It was the interview that drew me to this film. Sorry, it wasn't because of David, I was particularly impressed by Kate Winslet and decided to see the film. In that interview they briefly discussed the lives of illiterate people. This is something very hard for our generation to relate to. But if they live in the present without much thought about the past and future (funny I think the book implied this lack of interest from Hanna when Michael asked about her past and her future plan), then how could she possess that much interest and apparent enthusiasm for classic literature? Or one doesn't have to be educated in order to appreciate literature?

Nick schrieb:

Normaly you need an oxford english-english dictionary to make an good translation because you have the whole definitions there. But i hope my tranlations are good enough so that you are able to understand most of it.

Nick, I REALLY appreciate the time and effort you put in to these translations. It has to be very time consuming. And you always do a fantastic job! There was a paragraph in the book where Michael talked about reading a book in English. He had to use a dictionary and tried very hard to understand what the author really means. Translation is an art. And I understand perfectly when you translate. You spoiled me. Please don't disappear from this board. There are other videos of David out there... I'm just kidding...