Atonement

“Atonement”

There’s nothing like a little competition to bring some interesting films to Grand Forks movie screens, but their presence may be a surprise to anyone who does not actively seek out what is playing. Last weekend “Atonement” expanded its limited national release from 950 to 1291 screens, one of which was at Carmike’s Columbia 4 in Grand Forks, where “The Kite Runner” continued for a second week (on fewer than 700 screens nationally), while “El Orfanato” (on about 700 screens) was held over at the Carmike 10.  Apparently “Margot at the Wedding” (a November limited release that’s never been available to more than 121 theatres at one time) showed up and left the Carmike recently with no publicity unless you happened to be at the theatre that week.

My own movie, “Dangers from Within,” is scheduled for a soon but still to be determined opening date at the River Cinema, which has pledged to bring in independent and art films once it has all of its screens installed. Although the River Cinema has been gradually completing movie auditoriums since it opened with seven last month, the new theatre currently has only 10 of its planned 12 screens operational and has been concentrating on the latest Hollywood hits, drawing numerous moviegoers away from Carmike’s two theatres that have been playing the same titles.

Grand Forks movie fans can only hope that somebody in Carmike’s home office, perhaps by accident, may come to the realization that by playing different movies than their competition, moviegoers who want to see them will be forced to attend their theaters. And if local people do support these limited release titles by buying tickets, somebody in the home office might even decide that it could make good business sense to book more of them. Then all they need to do is learn how to set their showtimes so that crowds can be handled efficiently instead of starting several busy movies at the same time (perhaps they might even consider asking for input from their local managers instead of doing it all from a corporate office).

“Atonement” opened to great acclaim back on December 7th, but in only 32 theatres. With generally favorable critical and public response, it gradually added screens and then went into a wider though still limited release this month. No doubt its winning the Golden Globe award for Best Picture (drama) and expectations of a number of Oscar nominations helped motivate the increased visibility.

The British-made period picture is set shortly before and during World War II (summer of 1935 and spring of 1940), with a brief modern-day epilogue. It’s a slow starting but often moving tale of a tragic romance and the irreversible consequences of misinterpretations and an impetuous lie. Besides its studied, dramatic performances, the film also has the sumptuous art design and lush cinematography one expects of a British production that is almost begging to be nominated for Academy Awards. Of course, all this as well as the extended manor house exposition at the beginning and an interesting but self-conscious jumping back and forth in time may turn some viewers off, the way that “The English Patient” divided critical opinion along the lines of “powerfully involving” or “pretentiously overblown.”

Despite some ostentatious excesses from time to time (such as a spectacular five-minute Steadicam shot up and down and around the chaotic Dunkirk beach), and a couple of annoying twists and tone shifts at the end, “Atonement” remains one of the best films released in 2007. The story is basically concerned with a precocious rich girl named Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) who at age 13 has a severe crush on the servant boy Robbie (James McAvoy) that her older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) is in love with. Briony is hoping to become a writer, Robbie is trying to better himself by studying to become a doctor, and after years of avoiding Robbie, Cecilia can no longer suppress her feelings for him.

Everything seems to be heading along the lines of a typical British class-conflict romance until one fateful summer day and its more fateful night, when anything that could possibly happen to make all their relationships go wrong does. Cecilia has an argument with Robbie that Briony completely misinterprets from afar, Robbie accidentally gives Briony the wrong draft of his apology note to give to her sister (which she reads first, naturally), but there’s more. Two visiting little cousins run away during the night and when a search is organized, a visiting family friend takes the opportunity to rape Briony’s other cousin Lola. Then Briony stumbles onto the deed as the man runs off, and out of spite she decides to tell the police that Robbie is the culprit.

After Robbie is hauled off to prison the time jumps forward five years and rest of the movie depicts the results of Briony’s lie on her sister, on Robbie, and on her own guilt-ridden conscience. We get substantial sequences from various points of view - Robbie, now a soldier in France on the eve of the Dunkirk evacuation, Cecilia, now a war nurse, and the 18-year-old Briony (Romola Garai) now having abandoned her education to become a nurse herself and hoping to contact her estranged sister. Then, many years later, the elderly Briony reflects on her past.

“Atonement” is a beautifully made film (and looks great in the genuine 35mm film print playing at the Columbia). It’s an unusual twist on the coming-of-age story and the star-crossed romance, which becomes a powerful dramatization of personal responsibility and the overwhelming but futile desire to take back irreversible actions.