By Patrick Luce Mar 31, 2009, 13:19 GMT
Kate Winslet’s award-winning performance in The Reader comes to DVD and Blu-ray in April from Genius Products and The Weinstein Company. The film is scheduled to debut on DVD on April 14th and make its Blu-ray debut on April 28th.
Hannah (Winslet) has a passionate summer affair with a young neighbor named Michael (Fiennes and Kross), but then disappears. She resurfaces years later as one of the defendants in a war crimes trial stemming from her actions as a World War II concentration camp guard. Michael alone realizes that he has information that can set her free, and must decide whether or not to save her.
With five previous Oscar nominations, Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road, Little Children) takes home her long-awaited first statuette for this “fierce, unerring portrayal” (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone) of the woman who falls for a teenager, leading a trio of powerful and “impeccable performances” (Jeffrey Lyons, NBC Reel Talk) that also includes two-time Oscar nominee Ralph Fiennes (Schindler’s List, The English Patient) and standout German newcomer David Kross.
A young Michael (Kross) is heartbroken when Hanna inexplicably disappears after their passionate summer together, only to have her re-enter his life eight years later when he is a law student and she is on trial for Nazi war crimes committed long before they met. Michael must then decide whether to use a secret that only he knows in order to save his onetime love from a life in prison.
Helmed by three-time Oscar nominated director Stephen Daldry (The Hours, Billy Elliot), The Reader also received Oscar nods for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography.
Special Features on the DVD and Blu-ray include:
12 Deleted ScenesAdapting A Timeless Masterpiece: Making The ReaderA Conversation with David Kross & Stephen DaldryKate Winslet On The Art Of Aging Hanna SchmitzA New Voice: A Look At Composer Nico MuhlyComing To Grips With The Past: Production Designer Brigitte BrochTheatrical Trailer
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