"The Reader" Should be Oscar's BEST PICTURE and Here's Why

Who Does It Reflect? Pollack/Minghella -vs- Rudin/Weinstein

This is an original essay by Movie Smackdown! contributor Joe Rassulo

One always wonders, at least in the business of making films, how much difference a Producer makes if film is ultimately a director’s medium and ultimately a writer’s descent into hell. We have an interesting case at this year’s Oscars.

No one truly expected “The Reader” to snag one of the best picture nominations.  It has not been an overwhelming critical favorite or a significant audience favorite. It is, however, the only movie on the list we haven’t seen before, that disturbs us deeply as we struggle with its moral ambiguity. And it continues to slowly earn its praise and its viewers because of that. With help, of course, from Kate Winslet’s amazing ability to make so unlikable a character burrow so deeply under our skin until we see ourselves in her, like it or not.

The tragedy that has struck this film historically is now renown. Its two producers, industry giants Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella, both died before the film was completed or released. They were the duo that shepherded this film and all its components into being. It was their sensibilities, their talent, their perseverance, and their belief in the talent assembled (including  director Daldry and writer Hare) to bring an uncompromising, unusual, and unforgettable film to all of us.