Yes, they've been the critics' darlings, but emotions and tensions are being stirred all the way up to the ceremony. Here are the top five hot-button topics we've been hearing more about. Where do you stand?
The Reader
Scandal: So, is this a Nazi-sympathizing film or what?!
The Issue: Audiences are nearly brought to their knees, by a stoic, tender performance delivered by Kate Winslet for her character, Hanna -- a woman who, in her early 20s, partook in unspeakable (off-screen) Nazi crimes, leading countless Jews to the gas chambers. Yet, Hanna's illicit romance, illiteracy and quirks are supposed to drum-up empathy from viewers who "should see" that some SS officers signed-up for work, basically just cause it was a job.
What the Press Is Saying: The film "gives ammunition to Holocaust negationists, to the Archbishop Williamsons of the world, to the people who would tell us that Shoah is a mass exaggeration." He furthered, "the SS representative in the film ends up pathetic and sad and, by the way, not guilty of the crime for which she was sentenced," while "the lone representative of the survivors is haughty and glamorous -- a near perfect (and negative) stereotype of the wealthy European Jew in New York." -- Critic-turned-filmmaker, Rod Lurie (Nothing But the Truth) in a Huffington Post column.
Leave it alone?: Lena Olin's wealthy, somber Holocaust-survivor, who refuses an offering made to her by Hanna (we won't give away the ending) is not quite the neat wrap-up the filmmakers may have intended -- as it actually starts to ignite more tension over Hanna's unspeakable actions. But at least the speech is there, reaching out to address the SS elephant that's been quietly in the room for the entire film.
Wrongness-meter: 3 out of 5 stars
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