Atonement

Perhaps this should have been called "An Attempted Atonement", or something like that. It did not quite get there for me. But I don't want to give anything away.

If this were a true story, I'd say it is yet another example of good things happen to bad people. I hate when that happens. And, it happens all too often in reality, so why would someone write it into a story and call it fiction? But I don't want to give anything away here.

But please, don't get the wrong idea here. I liked this movie. I just didn't like how it ends. It is very well written, directed, and acted. This is like an old Masterpiece Theatre story told in MTV terms. It is a period piece with modern dialogue, and modern editing.

It was nominated for several Oscars, but won only for Best Original Score. That does not mean the academy agrees with me, it just means there were other things to vote for.

Keira Knightley plays the daughter of a wealthy British family who has her life torn apart by the lies of her younger sister. James McAvoy plays her love interest who is sent off to prison and eventually World War I by those same lies.

The atonement expected is that the little girl will somehow set things aright. I'll leave it to you to decide if she does or does not.

I get it - movies don't always have happy endings. Sometimes the good guys lose. Sometimes bad guys get away with their crimes. The boy does not always get the girl. People don't always live happily ever after. But in this case, I think the title is misleading and the title character fools herself and the audience into thinking everything IS okay in the end. For me, it's not. But I don't want to give anything away.

Watch this movie with someone with a balanced sense of fair play.