ATONEMENT (Joe Wright, 2007) ***

Rating: 7/10 (14 February 2008)

This year I've fallen so far behind in checking out the films up for an Academy Award that this one is actually the first of the heavyweight contenders  and the ceremony is just two weeks away! Anyway, this is a very British product: exceedingly refined and, therefore, teetering on the edge of boredom  in short, overrated, and encapsulating what passes for an Oscar-worthy title these days. Given the film's old-fashioned appeal and being unfamiliar with the work of director Wright, I was surprised by its flashy technique (perhaps adopted to disguise the thin plot which, such as it is, doesn't really compel attention) with the entire war segment and, in particular, the apparent necessity to present it in such detail i.e. not merely graphic but even reverting to unsubtitled French for a couple of scenes, coming off as a distraction more than anything else! The lengthy tracking shot on the beach seen during this segment is a valiant attempt even if, again, it doesn't present us with anything we haven't seen before in countless war-themed movies.
Rather, it's the central idea of a single impulsive action (by a child) having terrible repercussions on an amorous young couple  and, by extension, her own life  which is the most interesting and sensitively handled (particularly when, during the moving finale, it's established that part of what has gone on before is purely wish-fulfillment on the girl's part!). Incidentally, she's the real protagonist of the narrative  despite the couple (James McAvoy and Keira Knightley) being top-billed; the girl is actually played by three different actresses (including Vanessa Redgrave)  since we see her through various phases of her life  and all of them deliver fine performances (the youngest, in fact, Saiorse Ronan has even been Oscar-nominated). In essence, this is a reasonably good film within the (low) standards prevalent nowadays  but, as with most of modern cinema, it doesn't really warrant more than a cursory viewing for me.