Movie Review:"Atonement" (2007)

If any of these Oscar contenders has an up in terms of accolades, it would be Atonement. So far, Atonement has won the Golden Globe for Best Picture. Not that it really matters because as we have seen in the past few months, the Writers strike has reduced these lavish awards ceremonies into mere press conferences. And this will greatly affect its handicap for the other awards up for it.

Atonement is Joe Wright's (Pride and Prejudice) second collaboration with Keira Knightley in a period film, this time based on a novel by Ian McEwan. The story revolves around a couple and their lives and how a small false accusation turned their lives into tragedy. Newcomer Saoirse (love the name) Ronan plays Briony, a 13 year old who, despite naiveté accomplishes to sabotage the lives of his sister Cecilia (Knightley) and servant's son Robbie Turner (James McAvoy) and take them into the belly of history of World War II.

Atonement isn't really my kind of movie. I never got to see Pride and Prejudice because I really wasn't into the kind of British tea and biscuits movie that I thought this was. i have to admit though that the scenes involving Briony were quite mesmerizing and I was caught up in the tune of her charisma (I thought that last sentence up with an English accent). I can say, acting wise, she was the best part of the movie. The rest of the movie was an incoherent series of patched up story pieces that don’t have any sense of cohesion. The one shot sequence at the beach was particularly amazing, but see the point is, Atonement is just that, a lot of scenes like that thatched together and presented to us as we are told that we are actually watching one movie. the scenes don’t gel together as they should. I got bored halfway through it as I waited for a redemption scene that would never come.

If you are a fan of Keira, I guess its a must see just for the scenes with her in that green dress and for the guy fans, for the wet-in-the fountain scenes.



Rocketboy's Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.