Atonement DVD Review

A faithful and sometimes dazzling adaptation of the best-selling novel by Ian McEwan, Atonement was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It won the Oscar for Best Musical Score. The DVD provides an excellent audio commentary track by director Joe Wright. Of particular interest is when he talks the viewer through the film's technically impressive five-minute tracking shot. The DVD is worth watching for the artistic value of the feature film alone. But the commentary gave me a deeper understanding of the movie and filmmaking process, making the DVD worth buying.

Pros

Cons

A faithful adaptation of the best-selling novel by Ian McEwan, Atonement was nominated for seven Academy Awards: Best Picture, Supporting Actress (Saoirse Ronan), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Art Direction, Costume Design and Musical Score. It won the Oscar for Best Score. Also, the movie features fine acting by Keira Knightley and James McAvoy.

For its first 50 minutes, Atonement is dazzling. This part of the story takes place in 1935 at the Tallis family's British country estate, where college-aged Cecilia Tallis (Knightley) becomes aware that she and Robbie Turner (McAvoy), the son of a servant, are sexually attracted to each other. But 13-year-old Briony Tallis (Ronan) gets upset and confused about what's going on between her sister Cecilia and Robbie, and the younger girl does something that ruins all three of their lives.

The film then jumps ahead to 1940. World War II is underway, Robbie is in the army in France, and Cecilia and Briony (now 18 and played by Romola Garai) work as nurses in London. In this nearly hour-long section of the movie, the characters and settings are not entirely convincing, and there isn't much drama. But for its final several minutes, the film leaps forward five decades and again becomes compelling, when Briony is 77 years old and played by Vanessa Redgrave.

The DVD provides an excellent audio commentary track by director Joe Wright. Of particular interest is when he talks the viewer through the film's technically impressive five-minute tracking shot. Another worthwhile DVD extra is the five-minute featurette where Wright, novelist McEwan and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Christopher Hampton discuss adapting the book for the screen. The DVD also contains a serviceable 27-minute making-of documentary and seven deleted scenes.