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Director: Joe Wright
Release Date: December 7th, 2007
Rating: R for disturbing war images, language and some sexuality.
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 As part of a double feature compromise between my wife and me, I took her to see Atonement before we went to see There Will Be Blood.
The title "Atonement" makes me think it's some sort of drama, but seeing the previews of a couple struggling to stay in touch during World War II made me realize it was a flat-out chick flick.
My instincts were correct!
The majority of this movie is set in England over the course of the late 1930's to early 1940's. A rich British family is doing what rich families did back then during the threat of war - Have dinner parties, frolic through their giants gardens, and flirt with the help.
Briony Tallis is a wannabe writer at the estate. She writes books and even plays. At the young age of 13, she's had a crush on Robbie Turner for several years, but Robbie is above the age of consent and he isn't interested in Briony. One day, Briony sees her older sister with Robbie and does what any 13-year-old would do, she flips.
The rest of the movie shows the consequences of the lies that can be told at such a young age. Briony spends the rest of her life attempting to atone for what she did.
Now I'll admit that the movie is actually decent. It keeps an good pace and has some interesting filming techniques.
One technique is to incorporate the pounding of the old-school typewriter that Briony is using into the music. A few times, I didn't realize it was a typewriter at first as it just seemed to flow with the melody.
Another technique is to show a sequence of events from the perspective of someone watching them. You see their reactions and are led to believe their interpretation of the events. The next seen is the same sequence of events, but from the perspective of someone who was closer to the action. It was used 3 or 4 times and each time, it was interesting to see the different angles of what transpired.
Finally, there is a fantastic seen that should have gotten this film nominated for the Academy Award for Cinematography. Towards the end of the Battle of France in 1940, more than 300,000 British and French troops made their way to Dunkirk, France to get out of there. The evacuations lasted for about a week.
As several of the characters make it to the scene on the beach, there is a complete recreation of the scene. A continuous camera flow moves through the beach to show the troops resting, singing, destroying supplies that could be used by the Germans, and doing whatever they could to keep occupied while they wait for ships to arrive. The scene lasts for about 10 minutes with never a single cut-away. It is breathtaking and definitely one of the best recreations of the Dunkirk situation I've seen.
The ending of the movie gives an interesting twist with a bit of a moral view.
Atonement may be a chick-flick, but I survived it alive. If you're smart like me, you'll take your girl to see it and then use it as collateral to see a guy movie. |
