Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: ATONEMENT [Toronto International Film Festival - Toronto, Ontario]
The context of regret filtered within the context of the past would seem to take on a different connotation during war In "Atonement" [Gala Presentations]. The film begins showing a regular Iraqi family going about their day in 2003. They of course see reporting on the news and Saddam Hussein talking about the invaders. As the first few minutes progresses it is just a matter of time before something goes wrong. The family is forced to escape the house but hears gunshots in the distance. Meanwhile outside of town there is an army commando unit coming into the town to both show presence but also a force. What is interesting is Americans walking through these side streets trying to be nonchalant but it would be just like we would feel if Chinese troops were walking down our streets after an invasion. Firefights begins from the rooftops and the action interferes with the family until it all goes bad. In the aftermath, a New York Times reporter (Kenneth Branagh) who covered war zones like Afghanistan and Iraq at the time was speaking to people after the incident trying to get the real story. He spoke to the survivors and then being American went to speak to the US Army soldiers. There was regret on the American side but it was baked into the context of war. The movie then jumps ten years later to show Leo (Boyd Holbrook -- the same man who feigned ignorance after the firefight) working a bunch of jobs but unable to keep it together. He was dishonorably discharged after trying to score what seems like antidepressants to try to numb his pain though he can’t put his finger on it.
Other guys in his unit are falling apart too. The movie is based by the same war correspondent from Iraq who later wrote this story for the New Yorker. The movie tells the aftermath story of the soldier and the victims coming together on American soil broker by Branagh’s Michael. Branagh takes on an American accent but the films aesthetic and budget is very rough, almost DIY at same points. The sound design specifically in the war zone is a little off and muddled. Branagh saw something in this story but at times he is simply a bit more than a plot ploy despite his steadying presence. Holbrook as Leo seems nonchalant in Iraq and then almost overplays his grief and traction back in the US so the character in a way almost comes off disingenuously. He wants to make amends and he is a mess but it seems some of his other guys are too. But Holbrook goes overboard a little at times and other times just times it wrong. The one character and actor who really gets it is the mother who can’t really give forgiveness in Miriam (Hiam Abbass). Her looks and movements speaks volumes especially in a moment where Leo is washing dishes in her kitchen with his back turned. He reminds her of the son she lost. The camera lingers just like it did earlier in the film but her pain in a way feels more earned and yet infinitely tragic. The film is about regret and that times can move forward. But they are never really forgotten. 82%/B/B-
By Tim Wassberg
