Beautiful, Moving, Utterly Captivating Story of the Greatest Generation

Rating: 9/10 (22 December 2007)

I saw this movie today the day after it opened here in general release. And I think this is the best movie I've seen in a long time.
The visuals captured me from the first frame. What an amazing series of scenes: a beautiful late 1930s English country estate; wartime France; Dunkirk; wartime London. Every scene appeared perfectly composed, perfectly filmed, with perfect colors and sights and sounds. Authenticity and beauty were captured on every single frame of this movie. The attention to detail was exquisite without becoming at any point distracting. If there's such a thing as perfect cinematography and perfect lighting and perfect editing, this movie must come about as close to achieving these ideals as I for one can imagine. In fact, if this movie had had no dialog at all, I think I would have sat enthralled by the absolutely amazing visuals, from beginning to end.
The story, though, was captivating in a special way. Special because of course we all know from the trailer what the basic plot is, and although there are important twists as things proceed, on the whole, we're watching a movie the storyline of which we already know. There's a special pleasure to watching something unfold like this, and I love the way the story was conveyed almost as much as I love the story itself. Deft flashbacks, with changes of point of view, convey so much of the richness of the story.
To me, the interaction between the characters and their context is what made the whole story so fascinating. Here we have really very narrow parameters laid down and our characters must make their choices within those parameters with consequences of personal enormity for each of them. The film conveys the Character--Context interaction in an especially fine way by showing & repeating again and again. Sometimes the repetition comes through flashback: for example, in the fountain scene. Sometimes it comes through interleaving points of view: for example, near the beginning, when Cecilia and Robbie are thinking about each other. Most fascinating to me is when the repetition comes through a sort of deft camera's wheeling slowly and deliberately through a scene, following characters moving this way and that: for example, the amazing Dunkirk sequence.
A key theme of the movie, as we all know from the trailer, is What's Real and What's Not. And this is played upon in so many wonderfully delightful ways. There are so many scenes through windows, and sights in mirrors, and POV shots up and down hallways and through fields; typewritten pages retyped and retyped and retyped. What we see, what we think we see, and what we do about what we see, or think we see, are all so intimately bound up with who we are: and this is expressed from beginning to end with a sense of authenticity and beauty that was for me just extraordinary.
The characterizations and performances were just wonderful throughout this movie. James McAvoy's Robbie Turner was excellent. Keira Knightly's Cecilia Tallis was solid and convincing. Saorise Ronan as the young, 13 year old Briony Tallis was just extraordinary for her age I hope that we see more of this young talent. All of the supporting actors and actresses were first rate. Special props should go to Vanessa Redgrave for her affecting and very convincing cameo as the elderly Briony.
Now I do have two criticisms that (to be honest) may or may not be reasonably laid at the doorstep of this movie.
One is that to me, the build up to the arrest felt like it *may* have been somewhat long. Maybe a little shorter would be better. Maybe.
Also, from time to time, I plain old had problems making out what was being said. I don't know if this is because I was simply so overwhelmed by the visual imagery that I wasn't paying as much attention to the dialog as I usually would. Or maybe the audio in my theater may have been a little off.
But these are really minor drawbacks to the movie, if they are drawbacks to the movie at all. Again, I'm just not sure. To me this is simply a splendid, wonderful, and captivating movie no less.
Before I close, I have something to say on a personal note.
My father & mother were both members of "The Greatest Generation" - the WWII generation which is depicted with such extraordinary clarity in this movie. My father was a soldier in WWII. My mother waited on the Home Front as she waited for him to come home. I take away from this movie a very strong sense that this is a true and authentic representation of what that period of time was like for this generation. I come away from this movie with a deep, deep, deep feeling of sheer gratitude for this generation. For the last half of the movie, I simply could hardly stop crying; and left the theater crying as well: tears of joy and gratitude and of sadness at the passing of this amazing generation.
All in all, then, if you want to see an amazing period piece about the extraordinary and ordinary people of the Greatest Generation, set in the late 1930s  1940s: please, see this movie. It is absolutely one of the most delightful and authentic human tales of the World War II generation that I've ever had the privilege of experiencing. And the movie conveys its story with the most lovely, most beautiful, most affecting images that I have seen in years, perhaps decades.
As I feel deep gratitude for this generation, I feel deep gratitude to Director Joe Wright and everyone who brought this movie to us. It seems so little to say, but I'll say it anyway: Thanks.