As readers of this blog are v. much aware, Quentin Tarantino is currently filming Inglourious Basterds in Germany and setting his rogue group of Jewish-American soldiers (including Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, and Til Schweiger) loose on those damn Nazis. Of course, we won’t see the fruits of this labour until mid-to-late next year, but, in the short term, this December will see the release of two films, Valkyrie and The Reader, in which the main characters, in the most neutral of terms, display strong Nazi connections. The two films will be quite different in tone and plot, but the main difference between the two is that, while I’d rather shit twice and die before watching Valkyrie, it looks like The Reader might actually be worth a damn.

Unfortunately, for this discussion, we shall attempt to forget not only the presence of Tom Cruise but also that The Reader is based upon the Oprah Book Club novel. So, with those negative strikes out of the way, The Reader is receiving better early reviews than the first impressions of Valkyrie. Not only does the latter film’s cast reportedly fail to master the requisite German accents, but the lead actor himself employs “a California accent reminiscent of Jerry Maguire.” Then, in addition to a predictable and depressing ending, the script is, apparently, a joke:

Valkyrie is a set up for not only failure, but ridicule. Take for example this line of dialogue that is spoken to Cruise/Claus by one of his Nazi associates: “When the SS catches you they will pull you apart like warm bread.” (Translation: he’ll be toast.)

Further, no real heroes are to be found in Valkyrie, and this isn’t merely because the lead character fails in his attempt to kill Hitler. Instead, there are the “bad bad guys” and the “good bad guys,” all of which are Nazis. The group that plots to kill Hitler apparently does so not because they wish to stop his crimes against humanity (Valkyrie never mentions the Holocaust) but, instead, merely to save Germany from further embarrassment and restore its legacy. How nice of them.

In contrast, an early reaction towards the The Reader speaks of the “real moral complexity” involved in the actions and fate of the lead character. In addition, the film is said to be “beautifully acted, especially by Kate Winslet” with a possible Best Supporting Actor nomination for Ralph Fiennes and still more compliments for the younger version of the lead male character, David Kross. The film, adapted by David hare of The Hours fame, involves, “a young boy’s obsession with an older woman in post-World War II Germany” and, later in the film, his reactions and reflections upon her Nazi past. Sure, this is definite Oscar bait, but it does look like an intriguing story, and Kate Winslet is also a bloody marvelous actress:

After taking the role in The Reader, Winslet had only two months to prepare–an unusually short period for her, and even more so in this case. “It’s a part that is incredibly complicated,” says Stephen Daldry, the director. “Not just in terms of the age span that the character makes, which is huge, and not just because it’s an extraordinary character, but also because she’s performing in the film where the majority of the actors are Germans speaking in English, and she’s English speaking in a German accent, and so the issues of matching accents are crucial to make sure everybody’s in the same world. What she had to do in two months is climb a mountain.”

The artistry described here is somewhat defied by NYMag’s description of Winslet’s appearance as both “Nazi Cougar” and “NILF.” Sigh. More stills and set pictures from The Reader are below, and hit the next page for the film’s theatrical trailer.

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