Lions for Lambs

"Nowhere else have I seen such lions lead by such lambs..." Quoting a German General from World War I, Robert Redford's university professor character compares former students of his volunteering to join the army to fight the war on terror. Hence the title. It is not a political statement.

If nothing else, this movie had star power. Robert Redford directed and starred along with Meryl Streep, and Tom Cruise. There were also some relatively new faces like Michael Peña (the locksmith from Crash) who I think is very very good and should be offered and take more stereotypical roles.

Now, to the story itself. This is neither a pro or con movie in my mind. It was given lots of press at the time but I believe it does fair and balanced service to all sides of a very complex issue. Cruise represents the right. Redford represents the left. Streep represents the press that gets caught in the middle. Each is faced with black and white choices in a very grey world.

I liked this movie as much for what it does as what it does not do. It cleverly covers a slice of time, in this case about a hour, from three very different places in the world. In each case, two people are having a very personal conversation. This format is not unique to this movie, but it is so well done that unless you are paying very close attention you may not even realize it. Because each conversation is so connected to the other conversations it is easy to forget that three different stories are being told. Well done Mr. Redford.

What this movie does not do is go over the top or out of bounds in any one area. It is not too long. If anything, it is about 20 minutes too short. You get to see an ending to only a third of the story and are left to wonder about the other two-thirds. That is perhaps by design. Leaving us to our on conclusions is an option, but not for everyone in this story.

Watch this movie with someone who has either seen action in the war on terror, worked in Washington, DC, been to college, or worked in media.