Movie-Atonement

Atonement was one of the nominees for best movie at this year's Academy Awards. It did not win, and reading critics thoughts on the awards, they said it really had no chance. Now I haven't seen all the movies yet, I still have Juno and There Will Be Blood to go. But I was really impressed with this piece.

It is an incredibly sad movie. A mistake, whether completely intentional or not, by a young 13 year ole precocious girl, has consequences for two important people in her life. That girls spends the rest of her life trying to make up for it.

We see her as a 13 year old. We see her as a young woman. And again see her as a dying old lady. This old lady, a novelist, has written about her mistake as a way of atonement. But I think the author is trying to still condemn this woman. The imagination that caused all the problems as a 13 year, still is trying to fix them....but the fix is only in her mind. There is no reality to it. How is that any atonement? She may convince herself that somehow writing about these two as still alive and together makes up for causing their deaths. But it is not true. There is no atonement for her.

This is a beautifully made film. The details are sumptuous, and the actors are fantastic. James McAvoy continues to amaze. The storytelling values are top notch, and you cannot see a skimp in any aspect of the film. Better than Michael Clayton, and I think, better than No Country For Old Men.