Impressive artistic endeavor

Rating: 7/10 (14 October 2007)

'Atonement' tells the story of a series of unfortunate events, misinterpretations and consequences as 13 year old Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) accuses her childhood friend, Robbie Turner (James McAvoy) of a terrible crime he did not commit. Opening in 1935, the story moves forward five years to show the repercussions of Briony's mistake on both Robbie and Briony's sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley), who abandons her family to stick by Robbie and wait for him, first to return from prison and then from war. 'Atonement' is an adaptation of Ian McEwan's hugely successful 2001 novel of the same name. Adapted by Christopher Hampton ('The Quiet American') and directed by Joe Wright ('Pride and Prejudice'), it is a sweeping saga of love and war, class consciousness, guilt and redemption.
Having read and thoroughly enjoyed McEwan's novel, I had high-hopes for this film  further fueled by my reading only the most glowing reviews after it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year. But after watching the film, I've got to say I don't really see what all the fuss is about.
The buzz is that Keira Knightley will receive another Oscar nod for her performance as the loyal lady in waiting, Cecilia Tallis as will James McAvoy for his role as the wrongly-accused Robbie Turner. I am a big fan of both Knightley and McAvoy. Knightley for her kudos-earning role as Elizabeth Bennett and McAvoy because he is just lovely, Scottish and has been on my radar since the British TV show 'Shameless'. However, both actors deliver fairly stoic performances by my reckoning. It's not entirely their fault, they are playing very class- conscious British characters who have to remember their social standing. And it is hard to play character's who have to say a lot without saying anything at all with regards to burgeoning romantic feelings. Neither are bad, but I wouldn't have said 'Oscar-worthy'.
The rumor-mill is also predicting a Best Director gong for Joe Wright and Best Picture for the film. Well, I can't really wrong the pre-emptive Best Director for Wright. Perhaps its because 'Atonement' sees him coupled with his muse, Ms. Knightley  but it's more likely that Wright is just a very talented director with an eye for atmosphere and understated beauty. A particularly breath-taking scene shows a panoramic view of desolate Dunkirk, over-run by soldiers waiting to go home, it is grandiose, detailed and absolutely magnificent.
The film as a whole however, will be a love/hate affair for many. I personally enjoyed the film, partly because it was a worthy adaptation of a beloved book  but I can admit that it was a little slow. True, outer turmoil is portrayed quite clearly by the war that Wright impressively recreates in London in 1940 and Dunkirk (not through battle scenes however), but so much of the story has to do with internal turmoil that it is sometimes hard to hold interest. However, Wright has to be applauded again for his managing to create suspense in certain scenes I thought would be very tricky to communicate to the audience  in particular, a certain letter writing scene.
The fall-backs of the film may lie in the fact that McEwan's novel is not adaptation friendly. That's not to say it isn't a good book  it is, brilliant even. However, the novel is narrated by an omniscient third person who is able to explain the inner-workings of each character, their motivations and interpretations of events. The narration is an important element to the book since the entire plot revolves around young Briony misinterpreting moments between Robbie and Cecilia. In the film however, Wright tries to position the audience in different frames of mind by showing the same scenes twice. One particular scene is first shown from Briony's perspective  through a window, silently seeing the tail-end of a seemingly heated exchange between her sister and childhood friend, Robbie which she perceives as malicious on Robbie's part. We then see the same scene more intimately and in its entirety, between Cecilia and Robbie and realize the sexual undertones and frustration of feelings unspoken between the characters.
I think my slight disappointment in the film comes from the fact that I did get my hopes up. It is a good film, Oscar-worthy? Only time will tell. I think it will be appreciated more as an artistic endeavor than a drama or love story, and will no doubt earn Joe Wright more critical acclaim and cachets as a director to watch, and rightly so.