Emotionally and historically overwhelming, with a contrived twist at the end

Rating: 7/10 (5 March 2016)

Atonement (2007)
Wow, this is a movie begging to be classic. I liked it and wanted to love it for all the deep emotional implications, the great set designs, and the wonderful cast. The story is actually astonishing as it unfolds at first. It's about true love between two young adults, and it's equally about the fertile and misguided imagination of a girl who doesn't understand this true love and manages to sabotage it. It's also about storytelling, and about the ever-fascinating problem of World War II for the participants and the civilians caught in the riptides of its damages.
That's a lot. It's enough for any good movie, and this actually has the bones of a great movie. One of the strengths is how good it looks, mostly thanks to veteran cinematographer Seamus McGarvey, who has been on the fringes of a feast of awards but never quite rises to the top of the celebrity pile here. Check his list of movies to know his serious accomplishments, but mostly watch how he deftly makes this movie vivid and moving, scene after scene.
Credit of course goes to director Joe Wright who has moved from television to serious movie-making very well. And to the writer, novelist Ian McEwan. But beyond these are the actors, especially Kiera Knightly, who I find at her best here. She's often an affected actress, far to aware of the camera, but here she backs off enough to fit the tightly scripted style. Throw in Saoirse Ronan as the young writer and troublemaker, and her sister, the terrific actress waiting for her major breakout film, Juno Temple. And the one man to note, James McAvoy, is strong if not the equal of the others. (Never mind Benedict Cumberbatch, who is good but slightly out of step for some reason.)
So you see the movie is loaded for bear, as we say here in the U.S. (or used to). And it soars and swoops and makes your heart patter and your heart swoon. And then I think it's up to your feeling of how the plot unfolds, and whether you believe it or not, and whether you go along with what I found to be a bit pushy and contrived. Contrived to make you cry, yes, but so obviously you feel slightly jilted. Like the date who turns out to not really like you after all, and was just out for a good time.
Certainly give this a try. It might just be the best movie you've seen in a while. It won't be bad by any means. And it really is gorgeous in many ways.