The word atonement has many meanings including reconciliation and reparation for a slight, insult or injury. In many respects the film "Atonement" is about both these definitions and how they can define a life. When pre-teen Briony (Saoirse Ronan in a spectacular performance) a budding writer catches Robbie (James McAvoy) the bright, young groundskeeper and her sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley)having sex in the study she pieces this along with other things she has seen to create a "story" for the police when a crime is committed that rips the two lovers apart. ***

Older and wiser Briony (Romola Garai)tries to make amends and repair her relationship with Cecilia (now a nurse)and Robbie (who is now being sent overseas to fight) as best she can during WWII but finds the road to forgiveness difficult and painful. ***

Brilliantly realized by director Joe Wright ("Pride and Prejudice") "Atonement" translates well to the screen with little to nothing lost in that translation. In fact, what might have been lost from the novel Wright more than makes up for with his often visually stunning film. ***

Screenwriter Christopher Hampton (the scripts for "The Quiet American" and "Dangerous Liaisons") captures the essence of the novel without losing its spirit something that is rare for film adaptations. Director Joe Wright ("Pride and Prejudice") is no stranger to the peril of translating a novel to film does a marvelous job of making "Atonement" cinematic in every respect. You'd be forgiven for the mistaken belief that this isn't adapted from another medium. Comparing a film to a novel is like comparing a painting to a musical--both may use a "story" as their basis but beyond that the two have little in common so translating something from one medium to another can be a daunting, difficult task often with no one happy with the results because they are comparing a subjective internal experience (the novel) to a subjective external experience (a movie--imagined by someone else no less). Our own experience will often be richer because we can fill in the background with our own observations or even information from internal monologues of the characters something that is difficult to impossible in film. As a result, the external realization often disappoints because it can't capture everything in the writer's head and our own in reinterpreting the writer's words. "Atonement" is an exception to this marvelously using the novel as a springboard to a rich, satisfying film. That doesn't mean the film is flawless. Indeed, it could easily have been trimmed by about 15 to 20 minutes improving and tightening up the narrative without losing the essence of the story but that's a purely subjective observation (the director, no doubt, would disagree). ---

Image & Sound:

"Atonement" looks marvelous in its DVD incarnation with colors that perfectly capture both the pre-War bright colors of the film and the somber tones of London and France during WWII. Detail is sharp and a very nice, smooth film-like quality to the DVD. ***

Audio sounds smooth with dialogue and music dominating the earlier sequences of the film. The surround channels really pop to life during the sequences set during WWII particularly during the marvelous sequence set on the beach of Dunkirk. ---

We get a solid batch of special features with "Atonement". The best special feature, however, is director Joe Wright's commentary track which provides intricate detail about the challenges of shooting the film--particularly the amazing tracking shot on the beach of Dunkirk which only took three takes (amazingly) to perfect. It's a good thing, too, since it was shot using Steadicam requiring the camera operator to lug the camera up and down the beach. It's a brilliant sequence easily as cinematic as anything that the Coens or Ridley Scott dreamed up for their big films from last year "No Country for Old Men" and "American Gangster". ***

We also get deleted scenes with optional commentary by director Wright, a solid featurette on the making of the film. The "Novel to the Screen" featurette is pretty interesting as well detailing the challenges of translating the written word to a visual medium without losing the very qualities that made the novel so memorable. ---

Final Words:

Largely overlooked by Oscar this year, "Atonement" may be a bit stuffy and more conventional on the surface in a Masterpiece Theater way when compared to "No Country for Old Men", "There Will Be Blood" or the experimental "I'm Not There" but that surface is as deceptive as Briony's story. It lulls you setting up the complex story telling to follow. Director Wright and screenwriter Hampton's sly, slick slight of hand in telling this tragic love story is easily as adept as any of those other films. ***

In many respects, the twists and turns in the narrative (ironically) make up for the more conventional nature of the first hour of the narrative. Reaching atonement in a relationship is a difficult achievement for the characters in the film with satisfaction rare for either party. "Atonement" shows that the road to forgiveness is often difficult to find and blocked by the very thing we take for granted--time.