If They Could Turn Back Time

Very often in tragic romances, there is always that moment that separates the lovers forever. In "Atonement" we get that moment very quickly, in fact it comes so quickly we don't even get to see the lovers have a proper affair. "Atonement" is a very complex story, taken from the novel by Ian McEwan, it was so complex it was thought to be unfilmable. Having not read the book I can't say if it was or not, but I was very intrigued the this story.

The film begins at the home of the wealthy Tallis family. The youngest daughter Briony (Saoirse Ronan) is a very imaginative 13 year old, she has just finished her very first play and is planning to show it off to her family. But there are other things afoot on this day. When Briony looks out her window, she sees something very peculiar. By the fountain she sees what looks to be the housekeeper's son Robbie Turner (James McAvoy) mistreating her older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley), when in fact it was the sight of two shy young people who have feelings for eachother. Later Briony mistakes another scene between Robbie and Cecilia as a violent act, which causes a chain reaction that will separate them forever. Briony accuses Robbie of a crime he did not commit and he is sent to prison.

Four years now pass Robbie released from prison to serve in the war, Cecilia is a nurse working in London, while Briony who is coming to grips with what she has done is taking her nurses training, each of these three characters long for that time when their destinies were changed and would do anything to go back there.

First of all I just want to take the time to address how beautiful "Atonement" looks. If there is a film that people should study on how to make your actors look like classic movie stars this is it. Both Knightley and McAvoy are lit in a classic way that is breathless and lifts this film out of realism into something only movies can deliver.

The film also is able to draw upon the epic scale of the classic love stories of the past. There is a moment where Robbie stumbles upon a valley of dead children during the war that reminded me of that classic shot of the wounded soldiers in "Gone with the Wind". However the one misstep this movie has is the long tracking shot with Robbie on the beach at Dunkirk which goes on for 5 and a half minutes. This shot seems to bring attention to itself and took me out of the movie and I wonder of the importance of it.

The more effective scenes that showed the carnage of war is when we see the hospital Briony is working in overcome with wounded, and later Briony in a touching sequence sitting at the bedside of a wounded soldier.

The film itself seems to be more about Briony's tale than it is the two lovers. It is her journey through trying to forgive herself for what she did that is the emotional anchor. Vanessa Redgrave appears at the end of the film to put everything into full circle and it is all done beautifully. This is the kind of movie people should see twice I think to fully understand it's world, I know I will have to.

4 stars out of 4