Movie Box Review

In an era that so recently gave us "The Kennedys," possibly the worst piece of pop culture history ever produced for American television, it seems downright rude to criticize Robert Redford's new film THE CONSPIRATOR for sticking to the facts.  Accuracy and drama, however, are not always the best of friends.

The Conspirator illuminates a little-known corner of one of the most famous stories in US history.  While the name of John Wilkes Booth is known to everyone (one would hope), relatively few people are aware that after Booth was killed by soldiers, the government prosecuted several others for conspiring in Lincoln's assassination.  One of those charged was Mary Surratt (played by Robin Wright in the film), who had been the landlady at a boardinghouse where her son, among others, reportedly helped plot the crime (which was intended to include not just the attack on Lincoln, but also on the Vice President and Secretary of State).  Surratt was specifically accused of supplying weapons and other materials to Booth and his cohorts.

Surratt's arrest and trial took place in the glare of the country's shock and fury over Lincoln's killing, and the fear that further attacks by recently defeated Confederates might well be coming--Redford and his screenwriter, James D Solomon, want the audience to recognize the similarities to America after 9/11.  Surratt was subjected to trial by a military tribunal, where the normal rules of evidence did not apply, and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton (Kevin Kline, doing a good job as essentially Dick Cheney/Donald Rumsfeld) was instrumental in making sure her civil liberties were kept to a minimum, partly in the hope that this treatment would bring her son, who was on the run, to justice.  In the end (Spoiler Alert?), she was convicted and--despite a seeming commutation--hung. 

 

Redford and Solomon are dogged about recreating the details of the testimony against Surratt and the details of her trial--chunks of the film are taken from the 1865 tribunal transcripts.  These are informative and certainly prove the point, but somewhat lacking in pace and drama.  The "personal" story in the film, such as it is, concerns Surratt's lawyer, the young and inexperienced Frederick Allen (James McAvoy); I don't know the history on him, but the story told--a Union war hero who reluctantly takes the case, only to become increasingly convinced of his client's innocence and thus jeopardize his own bright future by his efforts on her behalf (his socialite fiancee, played by Alexis Bledel?  Not as loyal as he'd hoped)--feels too hackneyed by half.  

Despite the film's muted tone, Robin Wright gives a performance that's intense and haunting; it's the best part she's had in a long time (probably since White Oleander, almost a decade ago), and she acts the hell out of it. McAvoy is passable in the thinnest role, and a lot of very fine actors make appearances, some to good effect (Tom Wilkinson is the senior lawyer who enlists McAvoy to the case, Evan Rachel Wood is Surratt's daughter, Danny Huston the chief judge), some not so much (Justin Long should never again do a period film).  

One doesn't want to diminish The Conspirator too much.  It's a genuinely worthy film, made with nothing but the best of motives.  It oozes seriousness in every frame, from Newton Thomas Sigel's dark photography to Mark Isham's somber score.  You walk out of it knowing more than you did before about American history, and able to make worthwhile connections between the country's past and its present. Ultimately, though, Redford has illustrated a lesson plan more than he's made a movie.  

(THE CONSPIRATOR - Roadside Attractions - PG 13 - 123 min. - Director:  Robert Redford - Script: James D Solomon, from a story with Gregory Bernstein - Cast:  James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Tom Wilkinson, Alexis Bledel, Danny Huston, Evan Rachel Wood, Kevin Kline - Moderate Release (700+ theatres)

Saoirse Ronan only appears in the first 50 minutes or so of Joe Wright's film of the Ian McEwan novel ATONEMENT, playing the young Briony Tallis (after that, her character ages into Romola Garai, and then Vanessa Redgrave).  This section, which takes place over the course of a single day in 1935, is the most effective part of the film.   The 13-year old Briony drives the action that will determine the entire story, and Ronan, who had previously appeared in some British TV, captures the mix of pique, profound confusion, half-conscious jealousy, and an intemperate need to form and tell cohesive stories that leads her to unwittingly destroy the lives of those closest to her.  It would have been easy to make Briony a bad seed, spitefully out to hurt people, but--as her adult self comes to realize--the tragedy of her decision is that she talked herself into believing she was telling the truth when accusing the housekeeper's son Robbie (James McAvoy)--also her sister's (Keira Knightley) lover--of a rape he didn't commit.  Ronan was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for the performance, which led to her fine work in the misconceived The Lonely Bones and a very strong smaller role in the little-seen The Way Back.  

In the new Hannah, both Wright and Ronan are tackling the action genre for the first time, but the opening part of Atonement makes that seem like less of a reach than you might think.  Wright, who had previously directed Pride and Prejudice, injects the Atonement opening with great energy--Briony is repeatedly seen running through her manor house at such speed that she could be Jack Bauer racing to disarm a terrorist bomb.  Christopher Hampton's script, jumping back and forth in time through that day, creates a thriller atmosphere as we move closer to what we sense will be the terrible consequences of what began as a lovely day, and Dario Marianelli's brilliant score uses the sound of Briony's typewriter as a tense motif. 

The more cinematically colorful second chapter of Atonement, centering on Robbie's attempt to get out of wartime France and ultimately on the Dunkirk evaculation, suggests that Wright still has some limitations as a director.  Partly it's because this is the section of McEwan's book most cut down for the film; all that's left is the sentimentality (which Wright's subsequent The Soloist proved to be his undoing).  And Wright starts showing off, most notably with a 6 minute single shot that pans and tracks throughout Dunkirk and its beachfront without much cause beyond its own virtuosity.  The film recovers somewhat when back in London for the final sections, but doesn't quite manage its attempt to find a cinematic equivalent for the novel's revelation that what we've been reading is itself a work of metafiction, "Briony's" attempt to atone for her long-ago sin.

Atonement was quite successful for an art-house movie, with a worldwide gross of $130M, which followed $121M for Wright's Pride and Prejudice.  However, the more expensive Soloist could only muster $38M worldwide, which may explain why Wright is tackling an action movie.  As classics-minded filmmakers go, Wright brings unusual punch to his projects--neither of his period films has that Merchant/Ivory museum feel--and while Ronan has been in some uneven films, she has yet to give a bad performance.  Hanna has potential to widen the playing field for both of them.