| News Items: |
| Headlines |
| News Briefs |
| Stories |
| Movies |
| Word To Life |
| More News: |
| Vatican |
| Africa |
| Archives: |
| John Paul II |
| Tsunami |
| Election 2004 |
| Charter update |
| John Jay study |
| Other Items: |
| Client Area |
| Links |
| Origins |
| Movie Review |
|
The Good Shepherd By Harry Forbes Catholic News Service NEW YORK (CNS) -- In this world, there's just about no one you can trust. At least, not for our hero. "The Good Shepherd" (Universal) is an austere but generally absorbing over-the-years saga following the fortunes of Edward Wilson (a quietly intense Matt Damon), a fictitious CIA man. Flip-flopping through time, the film begins with the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, before flashing back to 1939, and Wilson's initiation into the secretive Skull and Bones fraternity at Yale (where, incidentally, there's an amusing scene of Damon performing Little Buttercup in "H.M.S. Pinafore"). A betrayal of his purported Nazi-sympathizer poetry professor Dr. Fredericks (Michael Gambon) at Yale leads to even more soul-crushing acts later on. He is soon railroaded into an unhappy marriage to Margaret "Clover" Russell (Angelina Jolie), a classmate's sister who becomes pregnant after she seduces him, leading him to abandon the sweet, deaf girl, Laura (Tammy Blanchard), whom he really loves. He's soon recruited into the nascent Office of Strategic Services, precursor to the CIA, during World War II, in which Wilson will also play a key role. Interestingly, the plot here briefly dovetails with its concurrent sound-alike film, "The Good German," when it touches on the Russian and American competition to smuggle out the top scientists after the war. When he returns after the war, the unhappy Margaret has become more distant, as both admit to extramarital affairs, and, of course after his long absence, he barely knows his young son. The distant relationship with that son, Edward (played as a young man by Eddie Redmayne) will have repercussions as the film progresses, much as Wilson is himself haunted by the suicide death of his father when he was a child. Robert De Niro (who plays Bill Sullivan, a military man who recruits Wilson to go abroad during the war) directs Eric Roth's fact-based script with a sure hand, and though the plot has some holes effectively dramatizes the emotional consequences of its protagonist's overly secretive life and the tragedy of sacrificing one's humanity for misplaced ideals. The performances (including appearances by William Hurt, Alec Baldwin, Timothy Hutton and more) are all fine, and Damon must be commended for maintaining interest in his excessively buttoned-down character for nearly three hours. All in all, it's an intelligent adult drama. The film includes adultery and premarital sex, a shadowy sexual encounter, innuendo, a predatory gay character, a couple of cold-blooded murders and other spy-related dirty doings, suicides, marital discord, partial nudity, drug use, a few expletives and racial epithets. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. - - - Forbes is director of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More reviews are available online at www.usccb.org/movies. END Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed. CNS · 3211 Fourth St NE · Washington DC 20017 · 202.541.3250 |
| FIND A MOVIE |
|
Looking for a movie review? |