(A movie review for “Atonement”, Best Picture contender for this year’s Oscar and winner of the Golden Globes’ Best Picture prize for Motion Picture-Drama. The film is based on Ian McEwan’s bestselling novel of the same title and is executed on the screen by “Pride&Prejudice” director, Jon Wright. The drama topbills Keira Knightley and James McAvoy with excellent support from Saoirse Ronan.)
Have you ever felt guilty? Or simply wished to correct yourself because of your uncalculated prejudgments to a person you are negatively biased to?
What if you had the chance to correct the one greatest mistake in life but it’s already too late? How will you find yourself in this haunting situation? Will you ever be at peace with life?
These are the questions I started asking after watching and pretending to be in Briony Tallis’ shoes whose character was consistently tackled and magnificently portrayed by Saoirse Ronan (Briony at age 13), Romola Garai (Briony at age 18) and Vanessa Redgrave (older Briony).
Briony plays a central character in this Jon Wright film being the cause of tragedies experienced by her sister, Cecilia Tallis played by Academy Award nominee Keira Knightley and her illicit lover, Robbie Turner whose character is essayed by Scottish actor James McAvoy (“The Chronicles of Narnia”, “Last King of Scotland”).
At age 13 and gifted with creativity in writing Briony is at the height of developing her imagination in the summer of 1935. She constantly wanders around the family mansion and its surroundings to find sources of inspiration for her craft. However her sense of imagination will be tested after reading a sexually explicit letter from Robbie meant for her sister Cecilia. Confused by the letters and emotion she felt after reading Robbie’s letter she instantly jumped to conclusion judging Robbie as a sex maniac. But the letter still reached Cecilia’s hands only after knowing that this was not the letter meant for her sister but another one instead. The letters were carelessly mismatched by Robbie but it was too late for him to correct what was expected of in Briony’s adolescent mind.
In a welcome dinner hosted by the Tallis’ family for Briony and Cecilia’s brother Robbie Turner was among the guests. In this eventful night things are to change for a lifetime for the Tallis family and star-crossed lovers Cecilia and Robbie. Briony and Cecilia’s grade school aged twin cousins ran away and needed to be located urgently. As Briony was doing her part searching for her cousins she witnessed her cousins’ sister, Lola Quincey being raped and in the vague darkness she concluded that the criminal was Robbie Turner.
This unfateful event led to Robbie’s imprisonment and service to the French army during World War I. Miles of distance and events separated Cecilia and Robbie.
Years passed and Briony was accepted as a nursing intern in a London-based hospital catering to wounded soldiers. During her internship she’ll clearly remember the true events that occurred during that summer night of 1935. She’ll find herself in guilt and will long for her sister and Robbie’s mercy.
The film presents itself as a magically crafted piece of literature in its first few hours. It had the same mysterious feeling of watching “Pan’s Labyrinth” turned English setting. The production design and cinematography during the first few parts of the film was carefully executed to capture the feel of intense heat caused by the summer of 1935 in England.
To fully understand the story one should not blink his eyes during the movie’s first 30 minutes and focus should be on digesting Briony’s 13 year old character. If you are able to immerse yourself into Briony’s adolescent character you’ll be immersed in the film and will be hesitant to leave your seats and miss a single part.
But the movie suddenly hangs the suspense and exciting pace during its middle part as 13 year old Briony is temporarily absent from the screen and focus shifts to Cecilia and Robbie. More important here is Robbie’s character.
In the middle part of the film you’ll fall in love with Robbie’s sufferings and adversities until he crosses path with Cecilia and asks him to “come back” constantly. This is also the part wherein you’ll hate Briony’s character. You’ll suddenly realize the destructive impact of Briony’s impish misgivings and miscalculated judgments on Cecilia and Robbie’s supposedly happy ending.
But at the near end of the film Briony will resurface as an old woman played by Vanessa Redgrave talking about her 21st and last novel with feelings of grief and repentance for the sins she committed yet convincingly redeemed herself. This is where Briony will shed light on the true events that occurred for the past three decades. This is also the part where your heart will drop and persuade you to wonder with the questions I have used as a lead in this article.
After watching the film in its entirety the Oscars decision to nominate this film as Best Picture contender was justified (at least in my own opinion). I wouldn’t even be surprised if it gets the prize. The film deserves it and Jon Wright deserves an applause for magnificently turning McEwan’s literary masterpiece into a classic film masterpiece.
To say that the adaptation of the novel was properly executed would be an understatement. It has managed to weave the screenplay in a manner that will be beautiful on the big screen comparable to the feelings it forces you to burst out when you are reading the book.
Jon Wright’s direction was organized yet artistic. He was able to lift the plot and transfer it to film without completely destroying the novel’s feel. A story plot as complex as “Atonement” might appear mixed up and illogical if not for the careful handling of the piece by its director. The novel was well-written therefore it should also be well-directed. In this line, Wright did not miss the point of adapting this excellent book.
Musical scoring was engrossing. It had proper timing that shall scar your heart with the emotion the screen is trying to communicate to you. I even had to wait for the credits to finish just to completely listen to its theme and contemplate on the film.
Also noteworthy was its appropriate production design and cinematography. The summer of 1935 was presented as classic and elegant as it can be with commendable costumes, environment sketches and even items inside the mansion. Every detail to make the setting believable was properly thought of. However the war period scenes were presented in a very predictable manner. It’s as if scenes from “Pearl Harbor” were inserted into the movie especially everytime Cecilia and Robbie are together.
Dialogues between Robbie and Briony when they had a chance encounter was very powerful which made Keira Knightley’s dramatic acting pale in comparison with the intense performances delivered by Romola Garai and James McAvoy. The only cheesy line in the film’s script was Knightley’s constant bickering to McAvoy with the line “Come back to me” which actually sounded unoriginal because of the classic piece “Somewhere In Time” where this line was popularly known for.
If there is one thing that this film should be given credit for it will be its excellent acting ensemble. The strongest performance of all was from Saoirse Ronan whose portrayal was responsible for making the film believable and exciting. She was most responsible for being able to set the movie’s tone and up the viewer’s expectation of an exciting story underlying beneath the movie’s subplots. I simply could wish that she had more exposures in the film which could have brought more range to the story and increase her chances of winning an Oscar for the Best Supporting Actress category.
Most impressive of all was the consistency in acting of the actresses who played Briony’s character. Garai and Redgrave were able to justify Ronan’s foundation of the character and able to deliver it convincingly until the end of the film. Redgrave’s appearance can be considered as a cameo but it was the most emotional one. She delivered a line that not only summarized the film but also her character’s actions and plead for mercy.
Personally, I consider “Atonement” as one of the best films for 2008. It’s the first film I’ve watched for the year that I never got disappointed. I’ll be crossing my fingers for it to win the Oscar.
But I really would like to leave you with one question after watching the film. If you were in Briony’s situation will reliving and rewriting Cecilia and Robbie’s character in her last novel be considered enough atonement?
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