I missed Atonement in theatre , so decided to rent a DVD as i had heard about the movie from my friends and colleagues during a regular canteen chit chat.
Plot Outline and initial Story -------------------------------------------
Atonement is not just a drama , its about a scandalmonger, a precocious, imaginative kid who says the darnedest thing: "I saw him, I saw him with my own naked eyes." But this 12-13 year old girl , Briony (Saoirse Ronan), isn't complaining about a sibling's doing or anything which can be forgotten or forgiven. She is accusing the housekeeper's son who is a new boyfriend of her elderly sister, Cecilia (Keira knightly) of RAPE. Its very hard to forgive her because the accusation is so big or not forgive her because she is a kid and that's what her Atonement is all about. Though the main leads are Keira and James McAvoy , this story is about this teen.
The movie begins showing an immensely gifted teen prodigy Briony who at her age is too young to write beautiful scripts and plays. She even rehearses and enacts with the other children in the house on her scripts who are not so interested in all that stuff. She has got a great imagination but because imaginations are rarely true, she misinterprets many! This has been filmed beautifully in the movie so many times. First they show what she sees and then they show what actually happenned.
Through her windows she sees smartly dressed son of the housekeeper standing near the fountains and behind him is her elderly sister, Cecilia. From this much of a distance she doesnt know whats happenning between them but she has an amazing creativity of thoughts. She sees her sister jump into the fountain lake and come out completely wet in her see through clothes, say something to the guy and leave the place. She can only imagine somekind of chemistry between her sister and the Robbie,the guy! And then they show the truth. because of our hero, something precious to our heroine falls in the lake and to fetch it back she jumps in . She gets it as our hero watches with anxiety. She is very cross on him and rushes away from him.
Robbie has a soft corner for this spoilt gorgeous lady, Cecilia. He fanatasizes her. He wants to express his love for her on paper as he is not able to say it straight! He writes and scraps many letters into the bin. Then just for fun he writes something dirty which has words like 'I LOVE TO SEE YOUR WET CU#T" . I dont remember the exact sentence he wrote. Then he dismisses it but doesnt tear it. He writes a beautifully written expression of love to Cecilia. Before he can put this letter into envelope he moves to get dressed and all. He puts the letter into the envelope and leaves. At the fence he sees Briony and asks her to deliever his letter only to Cecilia. She grabs it and runs as fast as she could. Its too late when he realizes that he put the dirty words into the envelope and not his expression of love. He screams for Briony but its too late.
Briony reads all herself and her imaginations start running. Still she delivers it to Cecilia. Cecilia is shocked and hides the letter and tells Briony to keep quite about it. But Briony discusses it with other teen girl in the house and all they can think of Robbie is A SEX MANIAC.
The family is preparing for a dinner party with everyone dressed at his or her best. Cecilia is looking astonishing. There are few guests too. Robbie arrives and wishes to see Cecilia to remove the misunderstanding. She doesnt want to speak to him but she does.
Then they show Briony searching for Cecilia and goes towards the basement. She finds one of Cecilia's belonging on her way and gets scared. She enters one room only to get the shock of her life as a teen ! Robbie is all over Cecilia and it seems to be a wild love making. Now the director shows us what lead the love birds and their point of view of the situation. Cecilia dresses back and leaves . Robbie too adjusts his suit and leaves for the dinner. Cecilia and Robbie sit together in dining and hold hands. the chemistry between them has sparked. But Briony is too imaginative.
All of a sudden 2 kids in the house go missing. Everyone launches a search mission. Its during this search mission that Briony sees her other teen sis getting sexually assaulted in the jungle. Its very dark but she is sure its ROBBIE ! The assaulter has run . The family brings back the teen girl but they are unable to find the missing kids. Everyone except Robbie and the missing kids are present. This is where Briony accuses Robbie of Rape and says she is sure about its being him. She finds the dirty letter written to Cecilia and shows it as evidence of his being a sex maniac. the family is convinced. The police is called. Cecilia is shocked. Robbie comes back , not alone, he got the missing kids but only to find himself accused and arrested. Robbie and Cecilia kiss long before the cops take him away. I am not going to tell rest of the story but this is where ATONEMENT begins. Lately briony has realized her fault and its her LIFELONG REMORSE of screwing with atleast 2 lives.
My Opinion and research ----------------------------------------
Based on 2001 Ian McEwan novel, its a drama aplenty! It is really about the downward spiral the characters fall into afterward. Its here the film starts to drag particularly when Briony , the most fascinating of the lot whether played by Ronan, Romola Garai(when 18) , or Vanessa Redgrave(in her 70s) , isn't onscreen. Robbie and Cecilia are treated more like afterthoughts, rendering their misery and even Briony's guilt -less gripping than the film's urgent, thriller ready score would have one believe. Its upto us to whether forgive briony or not. But its a wonderful script filmed even better ! A must watch . A must keep.
Main Cast ------------------ Keira Knightley James McAvoy Romola Garai Vanessa Redgrave Brenda Blethyn Gina McKee Harriet Walter Benedict Cumberbatch Juno Temple Saoirse Ronan
Basic Facts ------------------- Director(s): Joe Wright Genre: Drama Classification: 15 years and over Production Year: 2007 Official Website: www.atonementthemovie.co.uk Consumer Advice: Contains very strong language, bloody injuries and moderate sex Country Of Origin: United Kingdom Studio(s): UNIVERSAL PICTURES UK; ODS
About the DVD ------------------------------
Good Quality. i got one on rent , waiting for prices to go down before I add in my library .
Available on Amzon at 18 GBP
DVD Region: Region 2 (Europe) Sound: DTS 5.1Sound: DTS 5.1 Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DO I RECOMMEND -------------------------------- ofcourse Yes! I believe its a strong contender for the Oscars too! Specially the british background attracts. I would even recommend buying the book ! Both are too good to be missed in your personal library.
I hope you like the movie review and decide to go for it. Have fun and have a great time.
