A work of art...

Rating: 10/10 (26 September 2007)

Crafted in Britain by director Joe Wright, Atonement tells the story of young author Briony Tallis who becomes jealous of her older sister's illicit love affair with a servant. And with this, she finds a love letter meant for Cecilia (her sister) written by the servant Robbie Turner and misconstrues it as a letter written with sadistic-perverted undertones when in reality it was a second draft that Robbie deemed to silly to use. Briony assumes that Robbie is a nymphomaniac and it is with this notion that she accuses Robbie with the rape of her younger sister. Upon hearing this, the Tallis family has him arrested and he ends up in World War II whilst Cecilia winds ups being a nurse. The rest of the movie revolves around Robbie trying to find his way back to Cecilia and also displays the cathartic process that Briony faces upon reaching adolescence and realizing the life-changing mistakes that she made. Atonement is sort of stuck in the middle in regards to whether it renders primarily on emotion or story. It is based on an Ian McEwen novel, so it does use some story elements in the latter segment of the film, such as when the story falls into the 'war-romance'-type category. The first half however feels highly eastern-oriented with well-placed shots around staircases and through windows that draw us into the secret love affair that Cecilia and Robbie have undertaken. The first part of the movie feels almost like a different film altogether. It feels quite artsy in spots and a lot of shots do not help to push the story forward. Having only seen two of Wright's films (Pride and Prejudice being the other) it's hard to lump his style into being specifically east or west. Pride and Prejudice had a lot of eastern elements in its use of detailed steady cam shots that follow its main characters around the sprawling English countryside. Atonement also has this, with an amazing 10-minute long steady cam shot that follows Robbie on a beach through the after effects of war. The shot is so magnificent that you forget about the lack of cutting and you start to feel as if you can taste the acrid flavor of rusted steel on a battleship or the stolid stench of soldiers' breath and spent bombs. The shot is very well choreographed as well as we see literally hundreds of extras that weave in and out of frame, each doing their own duty. Joe Wright uses background action nicely to tell different stories of different people without even giving them lines. Just watch the steady shot as it follows Robbie past a somber-looking band play a waltz or as he shoves into another soldier; a very well executed shot indeed. This shot does have an eastern-feel to it as it does not push the story forward but focuses on allowing the audience to see through the eyes of the main character. Editor Paul Tohill does a great job as well; his editing is never too fast paced but doesn't lag behind either. When he splices, he makes sure that we have enough time to fully incorporate ourselves within the basis of a shot. Again, his lack of editing in the steady camera scene helps to reinforce this. This can also be seen by assessing the scene that takes place near the end when Briony has come back to apologize to Cecilia and Robbie. His edits are now quick and slightly robust and help move the story along as we feel and see the tension-filled apartment room. The medium shot of Robbie when he almost decks Briony is tremendously powerful.