Atonement

Just caught Atonement today with Sinyuan. It's supposed to be an epic movie of love, war and family betrayal based on a novel by Ian McEwan.

In the beginning, it was kinda difficult to understand the movie with its non-linear timeline (the movie jumps back and forth in time). Furthermore, the movie would give different perspectives of events from various characters! However, it is exactly these points which also makes this movie special and unique.

As usual, I think I am driven to read the book, for I believe (and I hope) there is much character depth that a book can write about which a film can simply not explain. For example, I am enjoying His Dark Materials (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass) so much more than the movie.

Atonement was pretty slow and draggy at times. The characters (other than Robbie) were not really developed and did not engage me as much as I was hoping to. I would love to see more about Briony who was trying to make amends for giving wrongful evidence causing Robbie to be imprisoned. Keira Knightley was passable as the beautiful rich gal who gave up her family for love, but the sense of family betrayal was just not there.

For all that, I did enjoy the ending. I had expected the male lead to die, but there was a nice twist to the story, which (finally) justifies the movie's title.

At other times, the movie also got me thinking about how small assumptions on our parts and the things we say and do can have great repercussions on self and others. Who do we betray in our actions and words? Who have been able to stand by their love and trust them steadfastly? And of course, in the war, every emotion is amplified and sensitized. The soldiers trusting in being able to retreat back to safety and home and family, helping each other and looking out for each other. The nurses taking care of the wounded, dealing with death and staying impersonal - last names only.