The Good Shepherd  Quite Good. Quite Slow, Though

Rating: 8/10 (2 September 2007)

Why, oh why are the new films so long? The typical film nowadays is not less than 2 hours or so. Often, in such films, like Syriana or the like, the mere duration spoils the whole picture. You wait patiently when the film finally ends up, or, if you are at home, check with your DVD remote how many minutes are left. The same goes on with The Good Shepherd. A very good director's work of great Robert De Niro is marred much by the 2-hours drag. Mind it, the film is very good, this is a very serious work with so many good stars involved  Matt Damon as a main hero, Angelina Jolie as his unhappy wife, Robert De Niro, Alec Baldwin, among others. Another great plus here is the plot  the formation of the CIA, and its genesis, its activities, its struggle against the Nazi, the Communists and the like. I am Russian, I remember clearly the Cold War years, the very fervor of Russian and US agents fighting against each other. I must admit, the Russians are shown very well, quite correctly and pretty accurate here. The family drama of the main hero is shown superbly. His constant absence from home leads to adultery, to broken home, to tears and the tragic life of his wife and his beloved son. I never liked Jolie much, as well as Damon, but here they are very convincing and their tragedy is depicted very well. When it comes to the family tragedy of their son, it all becomes really horrible. The terrible choice  whether to pursue a successful career or to spare the family  plagues the hero of Damon and he chooses badly. His family is nearly non-existent and he suffers greatly. Among the certain minuses of this film I should again emphasize its length, its certain lack of tempo and then, there is too little of Mr. De Niro! He is appearing twice only and that is a sad fact. Alec Baldwin is another secondary character here and that is also sad, we wish he were here more. However, the film is very good at showing the American society of 1930-1960's. Kennedy, Castro, The Bay of Pigs, Soviet spies, Cold War, Nazi, Berlin  all is here and all is shown through the eyes of US citizens. Another great achievement is the grim portrait of that stupid, terribly self-righteous secret society of "Skulls". That is true; America is so equal in many senses, that some people badly need some "secret circles" to become more "sophisticated" or "chosen". Here, De Niro is absolutely great showing such a shallow mob of puffed peacocks who are trying to be somebody very special. And again, the main idea is consistent  when the duty is too big, families die. Great work, suffering of those mistakes described above. But then, there is not a perfect film, yet.