Bad Editing; Music Score 180 Degrees Wrong; Acting is Superb!

Rating: 7/10 (10 December 2006)

The editing doesn't let you dwell or savor anything. The editing is singly responsible for destroying any cinematic quality the film could have, whether it's grace, elegance, or narrative. The editing never allows a single thought on the cinematic narrative speak. It's the largest cause of the film's weakness.
The music score by James Newton Howard is way off. During scenes where our main characters are trying to escape rebel forces in order to either save his family or find salvation, the music chooses instead to be testosterone driven and percussive, completely missing the reason d'etre, and making it a vanilla action scene all about rebel invasion. Even if it was the Director who made this poor decision, it was Mr. Howard's responsibility to illuminate to Mr. Zwick the poor direction that choice is. That the right choice was not made, either says Howard is ignorant to such score-film dynamics, or is too passive or weak of a creative team member to actually heighten any film he works on beyond just the power of the Director's own boundaries.
The story is in itself undeniably important. It doesn't fail on this level at all. Except perhaps by being unbiased and insensitive.
Last and most important, DiCaprio's performance would be easy for Academy Members to feel proud awarding a nomination at this year's Oscar's contest. That isn't to say he'd win, since the film he's in is whirling around him at sub par levels to his performance, but his job is stellar, 100% top notch, and it's an easy non fiction vital subject matter that is politically correct to support.
See it. Rent it. Enjoy it. It's above average. C+ to B area, with my own weighting at about a B-.
7 out of 10 anyway.