A man's career overtakes his life

Rating: 7/10 (29 April 2010)

Matt Damon stars in "The Good Shepherd," a 2006 film directed by Robert de Niro. It also stars Angelina Jolie, Michael Gambon, Tammy Blanchard, Alec Baldwin, Joe Pesci, and Billy Crudup. Damon is Edward Wilson, who is the head of CIA covert operations during the Bay of Pigs. It looks as though Castro was tipped off, and it's up to Wilson to find the leak. While doing so, Wilson flashes back over his life, which includes his father's suicide, a college professor (Gambon) who figures into his life later, the exclusive Skull & Bones club he belonged to at Yale, his own recruitment into the OSS, a quick marriage that cost him his true love (Blanchard), his long-distance marriage, and the lack of relationship with his son. Finally, in the present, he's faced with an agonizing decision.
The performances are all good, and the film's flipping from the past to the present and back again is interesting and well done. It's a dark movie, with the introverted performance of Damon hanging over it. He's really terrific; he underplays, and you feel the solitary nature of the man and the feelings seething inside him. Only occasionally do they emerge, and his performance makes those bigger scenes all the more powerful.
De Niro has assembled a wonderful cast, all of whom have outstanding moments. Jolie as Edward's alcoholic wife is effective; Blanchard is heartbreaking as Edward's true love; Gambon is his usual excellent self as a professor with a few secrets. But at the core is Damon himself. As a young man, he could have gone the Matthew McConnaughey route with chic flicks. Instead, he became an actor of quality in some substantial films.
This isn't the most exciting film you'll ever see, but it is absorbing.