Atonement (2007)

Atonement is like two stories, hence two movies. One is very good and one isn’t. Based on a novel that I now want to read, Atonement tells story of an event; what leads up to the event, and the effects of that event.

The first part is set up a like thriller. It has an effect a little like the movie Momento(2000) in that is told in not quite a chronological order. I really like this because it seems true a memory. It feels like you are inside someone’s head as think about something and rethink it.

You have a bizarre preteen in a love triangle of sorts with her older sister, and the maid’s son Robbie, whom both girls have known since childhood. Both sisters have a burgeoning interest in him. The older sister Cecilia and Robbie are at the beginning of starting a romantic relationship. The younger sister Briony, who has an active imagination, watches them through a window and thinks she catches them in a sexual act. Later she really does. That same night two of cousin, two little boys run away. Everyone in the house party that night, including Robbie, go looking for them. During the search, another cousin, who is also a preteen girl, is raped. She doesn’t see who does her, but Briony who walks in on the act says it was Robbie. The viewer knows it was someone else.

When Robbie comes back with the two boys found, he is arrested based on Briony’s story and his stature in society. Cecilia is heartbroken and distrusts Briony’s story, but it does little good.

This part is excellent. It is a taut thriller. It is shoot beautifully, actually the whole movie is. Everything is beautiful. I have never seen Keira Kinghtly look more beautiful. I actually couldn’t stand her before. Everyone looks glamorous here.

I kept thinking that my grandfather was the same age as the characters at the same time this story is suppose to take place, which gave it an interesting perspective.

The second part isn’t so good. Although early World War II England is interesting to see, and there is some historical interesting aspects to it, once Robbie goes off to war it just becomes really boring. There are some interesting bits about nursing in World War II London. I suspect that book goes into that a little more. Robbie and Cecilia to stay together through everything, but they meet a tragic ends. It ends with a present day interview with Briony and offers some plots twists, but the end is unsatisfying. They should have done something with the second part to make it better like edit it down.

While leaving the theatre, I heard people talking, as the post movie analysis usually happens in New York theatres, some people said that couldn’t have watch it on T.V,and others said that it made them appreciate the book more. I can see how this must have been great book.

I think this is a movie to see on the big screen, if you are going to see it, because it is the only way to appreciate fully it’s beauty, which is really it’s strongest feature. Well that and the actors are amazing.