It’s not the viewer, but actually the ‘Reader’ himself who fails to understand Hanna Schmitz.
It’s quite natural that in his teen age Michael will not care to understand Hanna completely. But after becoming a quite matured-adult law student Michael is hardly interested to investigate into Hanna’s life. Instead he quite satisfied with his epiphany in the court that Hanna cant really read, but he barely goes further to understand her involvement in the holocaust.
If Michael, ‘The Reader’ himself is not interested in understanding his teenage affair, it’s absolutely not justifiable to expect it from the viewer. In this context actually, The Reader fails to hold viewer’s interest in the story.
Reading aloud the stories to teenage love is justifiable, but continuing the same activity in 40s is not at all matured. That’s why the script is completely at mess in later half of the film.
Merely strolling through the lanes of concentration camps is actually misled investigation that Michael carries into Hanna’s life.
In other words Michael reads Hanna but fails to read between the lines!
