Great Passion

Rating: Null/10 (25 February 2008)

Atonement (2007)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Keira Knightley and James McAvoy play lovers who's lives are ruined when her younger sister sees them making love but not being able to understand what's going on, the girl tells a lie, which leads to the downfall of all three. I went into this film not knowing a single thing about the story so it took me quite a while to understand what was going on but from that point on the movie had me hooked unlike any love story in recent times. This is a very depressing and at times brutal story that unfolds in a very poetic way and in the end the film works wonders and contains some of the greatest moments I've seen in a movie in quite sometime. One of these scenes is an incredible beautiful shot set on a beach were thousands of soldiers are waiting to be picked up. I'm not sure how long this scene lasts but it plays out as if there are no edits and the epic scale of this scene is quite incredible. The other great scene is the sex/love scene that the little girl mistakes as something else. This is certainly one of the greatest love scenes I've witness from any movie as the true beauty of love comes pouring out in this scene making it very erotic, mystic and emotional. The performances are all wonderful and that includes Knightley who captures the mood and heartbreak of her character. McAvoy steals the film with his tremendous performance. The emotion he brings to the role is something truly great to watch. I think the film will work even better for me on a second viewing since it took me a while to figure out what was going on but leaving the theater I certainly felt as if I had seen something special.