A film to remember.

Rating: 9/10 (9 March 2008)

For these of my friends who I showed these others reviews I ever wrote, this may come off as an odd one only because this time it's nothing that I want to laugh about or point out necessarily in a review. Those previous ones have been written as a result of a sporadic burst of thought, which I would sometimes experience after watching a good film that would excite me. With "Atonement" its such a different case.
To my dear friend Alon Rosenblum, I wrote :
"I watched "Atonement" yesterday, just before the Oscars. When I reach back into that experience, while writing this, i get tears rolling in my eyes......I cried at the end....I cried on my way out of the theater....I cried in the car on my way back. And then I yelled, much later, because the movie didn't get its BEST FILM award.
I had 2 favorites last year that stood out, PAN'S LABYRINTH and THE LIVES OF OTHERS.
This year' its "Atonement", and there is no movie standing close to this amazing vision and pain that has been transferred thru images and sound directly into my soul. " And that couldn't even touch the tip of the iceberg of what and how I felt.
"Atonement" could not fit into my regular burst of desire to write because that movie took my hand and walked a path with me to remember. I couldn't lock onto one particular moment and devour it with words. Over 2 weeks later, at 12:30am of Saturday I felt like I should make an attempt to write a review I longed to write since watching the film itself.
It is a sad reality in the film world these days how rare truly good films come about. Either because of the abundance of available technology that sprung out in the last years which allowed too many painters too unpolished and yet ready to paint on the canvas...or be that the ones who forgot what movies are about, lost in their accounting and fame. However it is not of a surprise to me that this gem came out of England, the land of pristine acting and humble actors, the land of Harry Potter and tea at 5. A movie so human, real and touching to the core of everyone on all levels alike.
If you, dear reader, look at other reviews people wrote on IMDb, you may notice one similarity. People who hate it and people who love it, alike, will not stop talking about it for numerous paragraphs.
"Atonement" is a story of many things and people. I think, from human standpoint, its a story about a person, Briony Tallis, who never knew how to stop creating worlds for herself in her writing as well as life. It amazed me, personally, how she never EVER changed throughout her entire life until the very end. How she had to replace and justify the false ending of her book, an action of which devoured her alive even after the book has been complete. A girl and woman alike, so trapped in their own world that the gravity of truth never applies. Briony turns into a study whereas she is a human being or a character in a book she needs to keep writing in order to live and therefore has the freedom to write her own reality.
It may not be for Cecilia and Robbie who were in love and wanted to be together, not the atrocities of war, not the death. It's nothing else to me, but the power of one's imagination and the fruit it bears.
Lost in her writing/life, the older Briony still voices out her concerns about the decisions she made for her sister and Robbie and their lives, writing them into a picture perfect home on the beach and shaving Robbie's facial hair as well as wrinkles and age off. One can't really say if she is in denial. Its only the shocking revelation of her secrets she kept and choices she made since young age, that make your hair stand still. And its even scarier when you see her old and same.
I cried and cried and didn't know why, at the end of the film. Was it because of the spectacular poetic acting by the entire cast without an exception. Was it because of the masterful hand of the director who created a movie so beautiful and strong. The music? Or the sadness, for Briony Tallis and her miserable life of a character-turned-ghost only because the real Briony never let herself exist outside of her own writing.
I would love to praise everyone involved, above to below the line, The Working Title and Focus Features, Joe Wright, the absolutely phenomenal performances by James McAvoy and Keira Knightley who maybe taught us what having a relationship with a character on screen is really about.
Personally, this year's Academy Awards lost their clout of being a judge of good and bad. It seemed like the traditional academy voters were replaced at the last moment by people who only like the cocktails, but not watching the nominated films.
"Atonement" is the only film who can claim its title as "BEST FILM OF THE YEAR" and it remains to be, only because there was not a single day passing by when its name or plot did not come to my mind.
Exhilarating, Exceptional, Powerful and Unforgettable.
"Atonement"