DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Atonement
By June L.
Mar 17, 2008, 22:11 GMT

What can be better than a romantic story set against a major world event with all kinds of tragedy and turmoil played out on both personal and international levels?  Atonement may well become one of those movies that we grab over and over to get us through romantic break ups and other sad times in life.

The film opens in the years just before World War II.  The audience is introduced to the characters in images of lives of wealth and privilege, which also have somber undercurrents of divorce, class difference and greed.  The sisters Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and Briony (Saoirse Ronan) are children of this wealth, and have been given every opportunity to succeed and to indulge their interests. 

Cecilia just home from college is entering the adult world in petulant fits and starts, one minute childlike the next taking on the persona of the worldly wise woman.  Her confusion as to who she is, becomes evident in her inability to make peace with her feelings about Robbie, the equally well educated but lower class son of the estate’s housekeeper (Brenda Blethyn.) 

The younger sister Briony at twelve years old, aspires to the wisdom and observant nature of a writer, but is woefully ignorant of the realities of human behavior.  Robbie (James McAvoy) is desperately in love with Cecilia, plans to continue his education and become a doctor, and behaves in public with confidence, but still carrying over the subservient aspects of earlier generations. 

Add to the tension of the mix cousins whose parents have dumped them while they get a divorce, and Cici and Briony’s brother who brings home for a visit a friend who is the personification of greed and moral dissoluteness.  Recipe for disaster would be a good title for the beginning section of the film.

The idiotic mistake is made, and events occur to encourage misinformation and misunderstanding.  It is a little difficult for viewers to accept that the word of a twelve year old is taken so implicitly as the truth.  Who in their right mind would believe only a child’s impressions of something that serious without some heavy-duty investigation? 

This would be true especially in those days before children were given such amounts of credibility as they have now, and more importantly when the lives of others are at stake.  Without this plot device, however, the story would not happen, so we accept it as part of the chain of events that caused the lives of several people to be ruined.

The actress that plays the young Briony (Saoirse Ronan) is amazing to watch.  Her level of performance is a joy to behold, as she captures nuances and reacts with expressions conveying a vast amount of emotion with her physical acting as well as her words.  Followed by Romola Garai as the young adult Briony, we have another excellent portrayal of the character. 

Ms. Garai includes attitudes and expressions in her own performance that were seen in the young Briony, and does it so adeptly the transformation into an adult is seamless and very believeable.  The jewel in the crown however, is Vanessa Redgrave as the elderly Briony. 

If you are not weeping at her story revelations, you will be at the superb and seemingly effortless performance she gives as the Briony who understands the horror of what she did and is now attempting to make some kind of Atonement. 

This beautifully filmed story is presented on single disc with a playing time of 2 hours and 3 minutes.  There are English, Spanish and French audio tracks as well as subtitles.  The special features are wonderful and add much to the enjoyment of the feature. 

They are deleted scenes, a featurette “Bringing the Past to Life: The Making of Atonement” “From Novel to Screen: Adapting a Classic” and the feature commentary with director Joe Wright.  In these special features and commentary, the wealth of research and dedication to historically accurate details are discussed.  The film is rated R for disturbing war images, language and some sexuality. 

Critics and awards groups have recognized Atonement as exceptional.  It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, and won Best Musical Score.  In Britian it won two BAFTA awards including the Best Film of 2007, and it is the winner of two Golden Globe awards including Best Motion Picture- Drama.  

During the movie, we sympathize, mourn, become outraged and marvel at human strengths and nobility of character that exist along side the capacity to make the most idiotic of errors.  Atonement is good viewing!

Atonement is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK. Visit the DVD database for more information.