The Reader Page #4

I'd rather listen to you.

There's no need.

I wrote the report.

Silence, please.

Order!

You've been skipping seminars.

I have a piece of information

concerning one of the defendants.

Something they're not admitting.

What information?

You don't need me to tell you

it's perfectly clear

you have a moral obligation

to disclose it to the court.

It happens this information

is favorable to the defendant.

It can help her case.

It may even affect the outcome.

Certainly the sentencing.

So?

There's a problem.

The defendant herself is determined

to keep this information secret.

- One moment, please.

- Sorry.

What are her reasons?

Because she's ashamed.

Ashamed of what?

Have you spoken to her?

Of course not.

Why "Of course not"?

I can't.

I can't do that.

I can't talk to her.

What we feel

is utterly unimportant.

The only question is what we do.

If people like you don't learn from

what happened to people like me,

then what the hell

is the point of anything?

Schmitz.

You have a visitor.

Quiet, please!

Gertrud Bauer.

Andreas Michael Springer.

Michael Berg.

Walter Schrlich.

Time's up.

Are you coming in?

You took your time.

What is it?

Where are you going?

I'm sorry.

I need to sleep by myself.

I'll just be a minute.

Nazi!

Nazi whore!

Silence in the court!

Silence in the court!

All rise.

The court finds guilty

the defendants Rita Beckhart,

Carolina Steinhoff,

Regina Kroit, Angela Zeva

and Andrea Lumen

of jointly aiding and abetting

murder in 300 cases.

The court finds guilty

the defendant Hanna Schmitz

of murder in 300 cases.

The court sentences the accused

as follows:

Rita Beckhart, Carolina Steinhoff,

Regina Kroit,

Angela Zeva and Andrea Lumen

to each serve

a total sentence in prison

of four years and three months.

Hanna Schmitz,

in view of your own admissions

and your special role,

you're in a different category.

The court sentences

the accused Schmitz

to imprisonment for life.

- Where are we going?

- I said

I'll tell you when we get there.

You told me you like surprises.

I like surprises.

She's grown, hasn't she?

I don't know, it's so long

since I saw her, how can I tell?

It's my fault.

We shouldn't have come unannounced.

Daddy's going to live

in his own house.

Mother, I'm afraid

I have some bad news.

Julia knows,

we've already told her.

Gertrud and I,

we're getting a divorce.

You don't come for your father's

funeral, but you come for this?

It's not easy for me

to visit this town.

Were you really so unhappy?

That's not what I'm saying,

and it's not what I meant

Well, then?

You mustn't worry about Gertrud.

I'm going to look after her.

Anyway, she's a state prosecutor.

- She earns far more than I do.

- Michael.

I'm not worried about Gertrud.

I'm worried about you.

"Sing to me of the man, Muse,"

"the man of twists and turns"

"driven time

and again off course"

"once he had plundered

the hallowed heights of Troy".

215, mail.

217, mail.

220, mail.

Number?

Open it.

Testing, testing,

One, two, three, testing.

The Odyssey, by Homer.

The Odyssey,

by Homer.

"Sing to me of the man, Muse,"

"the man of twists and turns"

"driven time

and again off course"

"once he had plundered

the hallowed heights of Troy".

"...and back he went

to the house of death".

"But I held fast in place hoping

that others might still come,"

"shades of famous heroes,

men who died in the old days"

"and ghosts of an even older age

I longed to see".

"Come, sheath your sword,

let's go to bed together."

"Mount my bed and mix

in the magic work of love".

"We'll breed deep trust between us".

"Not for all the world, not until

you consent to swear, goddess,"

"a blinding oath you'll never plot

some new intrigue to harm me".

"And she began to swear the oath

that I required".

"Never, she would never

do me harm".

"And when she'd finished,

then, at last,"

"I mounted Circe's gorgeous bed".

"When young Dawn with her

rose red fingers shone once more"

"they yoked their pair again, and

out through the echoing colonnade"

"they whipped the team to a run

and on they flew,"

"holding nothing back, and as the

princes reached the wheatlands..."

"In my end is my beginning".

"Astonishing. I'd always said it was

a trick but he went off to sleep".

"...the table and began stamping

his feet and flourishing the stick".

"...even a cake,

rather like a baba au rhum"

"known as a Zhivago bun".

The Lady with the Little Dog,

by Anton Chekhov.

"The talk was

that a new face had appeared"

"on the promenade.

A lady with a little dog".

"Dmitri Dmitrich Gurov"

"had spent two weeks in Yalta,

so he was bored with it"

"and always looking

for fresh faces".

"Sitting in the pavilion

at Vernet"

"he saw a young woman

walking on the sea front,"

"fair haired..."

I want to take out a book.

Which book?

Do you have

The Lady with the Little Dog?

Your name?

Hanna Schmitz.

The Lady with the Little Dog.

The lady with the little dog.

The lady with the little dog.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

"The lady with the little dog".

"The..."

The.

The, the, the...

The.

- No letter?

- No letter.

Sign.

You are Michael Berg?

Yes.

Thank you for calling me.

You got my letter?

I have it here.

As I say, Hanna Schmitz

is coming up for release very soon.

Hanna has been in prison

for over 20 years.

She has no family.

She has no friends.

You're her only contact.

And Im told you don't visit her.

No, I don't.

When she gets out she'll need

a job and somewhere to live.

You can't imagine how frightening

the modern world will seem to her.

I have no one else to ask.

If you don't take

responsibility for her,

then Hanna has no future at all.

It's kind of you.

Thank you for letting me know.

- You are Michael Berg?

- Yes.

- Louisa Brenner. Good morning.

- How do you do?

We were expecting you earlier.

I should warn you.

For a long time, Hanna held herself

together. She was very purposeful.

In the last few years, she's

different, she's let herself go.

I'm taking you

straight to the canteen.

They've just finished their lunch.

Table four.

You've grown up, kid.

I've got a friend who's a tailor.

He'll give you a job.

And I've found you

somewhere to live.

It's a nice place,

quite small, but it's nice.

- You'll like it.

- Thank you.

There are various social programs,

cultural staff

I can sign you up for.

The public library is very close.

You read a lot?

I prefer being read to.

That's over now, isn't it?

Did you get married?

I did. Yes, I did.

We have a daughter.

I'm not seeing as much of her

as I'd like.

I'd like to see

a great deal more of her.

The marriage didn't last.

Have you spend a lot of time

thinking about the past?

You mean with you?

No.

No.

I didn't mean with me.

Before the trial

I never thought about the past.

I never had to.

And now?

What do you feel now?

It doesn't matter what I feel.

It doesn't matter what I think.

The dead are still dead.

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