McAvoy and Knightley are unlikely to win at Golden Globe because the real limelight is on one character played by three people, superbly

Rating: Null/10 (26 December 2007)

With 7 Golden Globe nominations, "Atonement" is one of those movies for which the script is important. It is adapted from a novel by Ian McEwan, same as "Enduring love" (an impressive performance from Daniel Craig who, incidentally, was a relatively unknown at the time, at least on a global basis). Starting with an innovative use of the sound from a typewriter for percussion with a pulsating urgency, the movie plays out like a concerto with 3 movements.
The first part takes place in an ultra plush English country house set in the 1930s. While the backdrop is a typical upstairs-downstairs class-dominated environment, the mood is one of a dark psychological thriller. All the characters are presented here. While 13-year old Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) aspires to be a writer, her sister Cecilia (Kiera Knightley) and gardener's son Robbie Turner (James McAvoy) discover their deep mutual passion that had been bottled up in the last few years. The match is not as unlikely as it appears because Robbie, supported by Cecilia's generous father, is at least her academic, if not social, equal. Without getting into all the details of the other characters and plot, it suffices to say that Briony, driven by an adolescent passion for Robbie and a vicious jealousy that she is probably not fully aware of herself, accuses him falsely of a rape which she claims to have witnessed.
The middle movement sees a torturous journey of three English soldiers in France a few years later, winding up at Dunkirk. Robbie has been given a choice of staying in prison or going to the front. What we see is essentially his agonizing experience waiting for the Dunkirk retreat, with flashbacks of scenes with Cecilia as well as Briony.
The final movement is told from Briony's POV, when at 18 (Romola Garai), she has given up university to be a wartime nurse. This is the most intriguing part that is not unlike a coda on a theme of realty verses imagination brought out in the first movement. The last 10 minutes of the movie, with Vanessa Redgrave playing Briony in the final days, is a TV interview in which she appears mostly is a facial closeup.
The movie is beautifully filmed, with an exquisite art-house flavour, from the dream-like elegance of the British country house to the brutal inferno of the Dunkirk beaches. Both James McAvoy and Keira Knightley got Golden Globe best acting nominations. But they are unlikely to win because the real limelight is on Briony  this is the story of her atonement. Saoirse Ronan got a Golden Globe best supporting nomination and is good enough to win. Romola Garai has taken her career one step forward from "Scoop", "Amazing grace" and "Angel". But it is Vanessa Redgrave's performance that takes the movie to a new height no one else today is able to. In those 10 minutes, we a privileged to a lifetime of excellence.