The Holocaust. A good subject for a film about the complexities of morality, not such a good subject for an irreverent review of said film.

Adapted from the 1995 novel by Bernhard Schlink and set in post-war Germany, 'The Reader' tells the story of 15-year-old Michael Berg, whose relationship with a tram driver 20 years his senior is thrown into turmoil when her previous employment as an SS guard is revealed. Mega Lulz I'm sure you'll agree.

There's been a good deals of trubs over whether or not the film trivialises the events of the Holocaust by portraying the Nazis as actual human beings, but really the film is less about the Holocaust than the ways in which subsequent generations attempt to deal with and understand it. As such, the film is littered with 'reader' metaphors (the basic one being literature=knowledge, illiteracy=historical ignorance) and elaborate if often slightly boring moral issues.

It's got a lot of good ideas and strong central performances, but 'The Reader' fucks up when it tries to overstretch itself, blending so many narrative and moral strands that the whole thing starts to feel less like a finished film and more like an Oscar nomination montage.

4 more Oscar nominations for Kate Winslet out of 5.

CLICHÉ WARNING: At one point, a teenage character smashes a bottle on the ground to express his inner angst.