Atonement (2007)

Atonement (2007)

Written by Christopher Hampton, based on the novel by Ian McEwan

Directed by Joe Wright

           

          This movie is not what you think it is.  It took me a long time to come around to watching this.  One thing you should know about me is that I don’t just dislike historical fiction, I actively loathe it.  As an english major, I was often asked by professors to read books that took place in the 18^th, 19^th, and early 20^th century, and to be honest, I hated every single one of them.  In my opinion, if it’s in the past, it doesn’t matter.  That’s why it’s called the past and not “shit that happened and still matters.”  We have no influence on the past, and so I don’t care about books or movies that take place there.  And so, when I heard about this movie, I initially had zero interest.  But then the Oscar buzz started (Atonement ended up being nominated for Best Picture in 2008, alongside No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Juno, and Michael Clayton, two of those deserved it, and No Country ended up winning).  So, during a trip to Blockbuster, I picked this up on a 4 for $20 sale, and I was pleasantly surprised.

            It’s hard to describe Atonement without completely giving away the plot, and I’ll try not to, but be warned, you may experience some minor SPOILERS if you read this.  Atonement starts out just like most period flicks – in the past.  The movie takes place between 1935 and 1940-ish.  It starts out at an English estate – the home of 13-year old Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan, in a deservedly Oscar-nominated supporting role) and her older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley).  The beginning mostly follows Briony as she finishes writing her first play and hands it out to her visiting cousins (three gingers, two of them young twin boys, and the other is their older sister Lola, who has some pretty intense hair, but she’s still quite pretty) to perform in it.  Also living on the estate is Robbie (the completely awesome and underrated James McAvoy), a friend of the family.  Robbie and Cecilia have some sort of past that’s only hinted at, and so they spend a lot of time arguing and throwing awkward glances at each other.  Cecilia and Briony’s older brother comes home from the war with a friend.  Meanwhile, Robbie offends Cecilia (because really, they’re just in love), and he writes an apology letter, along with a rough draft containing a very interesting word.  He mixes up the letters, giving one to Briony to give to her sister.  Briony reads it.  Then she catches Robbie and Cecilia having sex in the library.  Later that night, the gingers go missing.  Soon after, Lola claims she was raped, and Briony witnesses the end of it and becomes convinced that she saw Robbie committing the raping.  This sets up the second and third acts of the flick.

            What starts out as a generic period piece soon becomes an unconventional look at three young people during WWII.  You see, Briony’s little misunderstanding leads to a lot of bad crap that shouldn’t have happened.  The truly great part of this movie is the way it is told.  The storytelling is completely original and unable to be expressed in words.  Wright gives us the story according to one character, then he rewinds and gives it to us again, this time from another character’s perspective.  I loved it.  This avant-garde style often leads to a lot of WTF? moments and a surprising amount of mystery during the whole flick.  Another thing that really drew me in was the color schemes.  When you watch it, pay attention to the colors, as they become very important.  During the three different acts, certain colors are accentuated, for example, at the estate it’s greens and yellows and just forest-like colors in general.  During Robbie’s war scenes, everything is brown and grey and black.  During the third act, it’s blue, white, and red.  Another brilliant thing about his flick was the music.  This movie really set a new precedent for music in period movies.  You see, whenever Briony is onscreen, the music is made by a typewriter.  It may sound weird, but it really works, and it really works well (in fact, Atonement ended up winning the Oscar for Best Achievement in Original Music in 2008, a testament to the true nature of the music here).  A lot was said about Saoirse Ronan’s performance in this movie, and it really is pretty remarkable what she does with an extremely limited amount of screen time.  She is definitely a young actress to watch in the next 10-15 years.  I have heard that her performance in The Lovely Bones is just as good as what she does here.  The true standout, at least for me, was James McAvoy.  The only thing I’d seen him in previously was the first Narnia movie.  Since first seeing Atonement, I also saw him in Wanted, and I can say that, yes, he is officially one of my favorite young actors.  I’ve heard that he’s really great in The Last King of Scotland, and I have it coming up in my queue.

            If you haven’t seen this movie, then you’re really missing out.  It’s a truly great film and it’s destined to become a classic, if it hasn’t already.  See this one.