An article about grief, loss, and forgiveness that should be seen.
Not to be confused with the James McAvoy and Keira Knightley romance from 2007.
“Atonement” is a post war drama that deals with a soldier’s grief, following an attack on a family from what some would consider to be the enemy. Not everyone on opposite sides of the coin are bad, and there’s a strong sense of truth and emotions within. It is also the feature directorial debut of Reed Van Dyk, who also made the Oscar-nominated short film “DeKalb Elementary.” It was about a school shooter, who asks the receptionist to call the police. He had nothing to lose, but she manages to prove him otherwise. I reviewed it back in 2018, when it was nominated for an Oscar, and it had my vote. In “Atonement,” he based the story on Dexter Filkin’s article in The New Yorker, which was based on true events, and gets the right actors to display whatever emotions are going through their heads.
The time is 2003 during the Iraq War. We begin with an Iraqi family renamed the Khachaturians, including the mother Mariam (Hiam Abbass) and the daughter Nora (Gheed), who are going about their daily lives-gardening, playing ball, and worrying about the news. So, all is peaceful and calm, until a bomb strikes their neighborhood and are forced to evacuate. At first, no one is killed, but then pathos emerges for them.
Boyd Holbrook stars as Lou D’Alessandro, a troubled U.S. Marine inspired by the real marine Lu Lobello, whose unit accidentally shoots at the family, leaving a few dead and the daughter and a baby wounded. They do grab a white shirt to inform the soldiers they’re not the enemy. And now, they’re remorseful and stressed about what they have done. Good guys inadvertently killing good people, because they thought they were the bad guys. It’s impossible to comprehend.
A decade later, we see Lou working as a construction worker and looking for another job, as he was dishonorably discharged for taking black market drugs to deal with his pain. His pain is so nerve wracking, that he wants to make contact with the Iraqi family. Will they forgive him for what has happened? And can he even forgive himself? Those are valid questions regarding a traumatic event like theirs.
Kenneth Branagh comes in as Michael Reid, a New York Times reporter obviously inspired by Wilkins, who reunites with one of his interviewees Lou for a conversation about his war story. He attends one of his support group meetings, while the marine waits outside. And then, he has a lunch with the Iraqi family, who now live in America with the daughter having a husband and two kids. He might even convince them to talk to the marine.
“Atonement” doesn’t distinguish itself in the war genre like “Platoon,” “Apocalypse Now,” “The Hurt Locker,” or “Saving Private Ryan,” because the narrative seems to take U-turns, but it does know when to have the characters ease their emotions. Holbrook has broaden his horizons with movies like “A Complete Unknown,” “The Cursed,” and “The Bikeriders,” and he certainly displays some honest appeal. And the best performance in the movie is, without a doubt, by Abbass. Instead of succumbing to cliches of a mother being screaming at someone for their loved one’s deaths. She talks about processing grief, and the camera takes its time to see her facial expressions handle her emotions.
Van Dyk has cinematographer Jon Peter capturing the scope of the war scenes and the decade that follows on 16mm film, and editor Chelsi Johnson helping to see his vision of this true story. It looks and feels riveting from all angles. And despite the star power and his step-up from short films to feature films, he never exploits it. He respects the people on both sides of the coin, and their words and emotions speak true.
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