Atonement shows a bleak but beautiful side of life

Rating: 9/10 (4 December 2007)

When we say something is full of life, we generally take it in a very lively, happy sense. I want to use the same term for Atonement. But in a different way. Yes, Atonement is full of life. But not just with in a usual positivity. It has life throbbing through every moment with all passion melting in bitterness, confusion, guilt, rage and repentance. A story set in suffocating British aristocracy has a romance brewing with Cecilia, the elder daughter of an aristocrat and extra-ordinarily talented Robbie, son of his servant. But the confusion and misunderstanding of the younger daughter Briony messes up all their lives by accusing Robbie of the crime he never committed. As the world is on the brink of the world war and as a prisoner Robbie chooses to fight in the war. On the other hand, Cecilia still carries her emotions for Robbie intact in her heart. Life is tough for these two, but not as much as Briony who realizes the consequences of her mistakes and tries to repent by giving up normal comforts. But what is undone remains so. Cecilia and Robbie have a hope that if the war ends soon, they will be able to reunite. Briony wishes that too as she has been the reason behind creating the mayhem. However, the wishes never materialize as Robbie and Cecilia lose their lives in the war, leaving Briony to find the only possible way to bring them together, the fictional way. As she grows old, towards the end of her life, she writes a semi-autobiographical novel where in the end, Cecilia and Robbie get to live happily ever after... The first and the most marvelous aspect of the movie is the way it is shot. The way water sinks into sand at the Redcar beach freezes that frame into your cinematic memories...The English country side and the life in contrast to the war tapestry in the second half simply exhibits remarkable film-making skills. The acting complements the technicalities. The screenplay and the flow of story telling in this medium is flawless to an extent that I wonder Ian McEwan's book could have made Robbie's suffering and hallucinations of the night before his death more poignant. Being a movie buff in Europe has advantages, I could at least watch a just released English film even before it released in the US..... Just like most of the world that has seen Atonement, I'm also waiting for how many Oscar nominations it gets.