Best Picture of 2007? Nope. But Does Have "Best" Items of 2007...

Rating: 8/10 (8 January 2008)

With multiple award nominations and plenty of news hype, I decided to check out ATONEMENT strictly to see what all the hubbub was about. Is it over-hyped or does it stand out as "The Best Picture of 2007"? The answer is both yes and no.
Visually it a feast for the eyes. The routing of the English army into Dunkirk is nothing short of amazing. Let me clarify that, too. We don't see the battle leading to Dunkirk but do see the aftermath in all its horribleness. The crumpled structures and damaged soldiers are dark and forbidding, and hold the viewers eyes even though one wants to look away from the destruction and seeming madness plastered on the screen. This was the most intense sequence in the entire film. It was also shot in a most uncommon way, with the camera initially following James McAvoy's character and then the camera splits from him and goes off on its own, but returns to McAvoy later. An interesting way to shoot this series of events.
The costumes, sets, and props were perfect. There was not a single thing that took me out of the 1930s and 1940s. Specifically I enjoyed the woolen army uniforms, the streets of early London, and the nursing uniforms the young women wore (again, all perfect).
The acting was good. James McAvoy (THE LAST KING OF Scotland) steals most of the show as the good-natured but ultimately wronged Robbie Turner, an educated groundskeeper at a wealthy estate owned by the family of Cecilia Tallis (Keira Knightley, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN). Knightley does a fair job as Cecilia, a young woman in love with Robbie, a man far beneath her station. When Robbie is wrongfully accused of a heinous crime, Cecilia has to decide between her family or her eventual life with Robbie.
But more powerful than Knightley was Romola Garai who plays her sister Briony. Briony is the one responsible for wrongfully turning Robbie over to the authorities after witnessing what she believed to be him performing a crime against a child. It is Briony who really rules the movie, giving us her fervent wish for "atonement" later in life after realizing what damage she's caused both Robbie and her sister.
The powerful Vanessa Redgrave (VENUS) plays the aged Briony as the film progresses to the modern day and we learn how futile Briony's wish for atonement are. Although Mrs. Redgrave gives an astounding few minutes on film, it is only a few minutes. There've been rumors that she'll garner some award for this performance, but I hope that these rumors are unfounded. Don't get me wrong; she did a fine job. But her brief performance doesn't warrant any kind of prize.
Listing the good above, I have to point out that the story is not an uncommon one. This is a war story, something we've seen time and again. Director Joe Wright does some interesting camera work and manipulations with time, but some might feel this as an attempt to force something new on a genre movie goers are all too familiar with.
That said, one needs to be prepared for an uncharacteristic ending. If you're looking for a feel-good, man-returns-home-and-marries-girl-and-they-have-fifty-grandkids kind of movie, this one isn't going to make your happy tears list.
This is a mixed bag as far as films go. An overused premise with some uniquely new ideas.
But is it "The Best Film of 2007"? It does have some of the best cinematography and great acting thanks to Romola Garai. But it's not the best. That prize I'm reserving for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.