“Atonement” is a film about compassion, knowing that not all sympathetic characters are created equal. Inspired by Dexter Filkins’ 2012 New Yorker article about the meeting between a remorseful American soldier and an Iraqi family torn apart by his deadly actions, this poised drama follows three people forever changed by a conflict that killed innocent people in 2003—just one of many horrific events during the Iraq war. Writer-director Reed Van Dyk’s debut feature navigates tricky emotional waters, but it emerges as a sharp examination of what forgiveness and regret can look like, leaving no room for anything resembling a happy ending.
In the spring of 2003, Meryem (Hiam Abbass) is in Baghdad with her extended family, all of whom have been living with her sister since the US invasion. However, when the house is bombed, they have no choice but to go like crazy to the other side of the city to his house. Meanwhile, American soldier Lou (Boyd Holbrook) and his squadron exchange fire with unseen enemy fighters. In the confusion, Lou accidentally aims at the family’s oncoming vehicles, killing her husband and two sons. Michael (Kenneth Branagh), the New York Times reporter investigating the case, speaks separately to a grieving Mariam and a stunned Lou, expressing aggression and confusion: Why would they step directly into the line of fire?
The story then progresses over 10 years. Michael, now a respected New Yorker magazine writer promoting his upcoming book about the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, contacts Lou, who has been on a roll since returning to America. Lou, who lives in San Diego, read Michael’s post about that terrible day in 2003 late and wants to talk to Mariam, hoping that an apology will ease her guilt as well as her panic attacks. Michael has been in contact with Mariam, who has since moved to Glendale, but she isn’t sure if she wants to talk to the man who murdered his family members.
Van Dyk received an Oscar nomination for his 2017 live-action short film “DeKalb Elementary,” which similarly tackled gun violence from the perspective of real events (in this case, a school shooting). “Atonement” considers the emotional impact of a deadly fight on a mother, a soldier and a journalist; but it is to Van Dyk’s and his actors’ great credit that his film shows compassion for them all.
Each lead role presents challenges that are handled with grace. If Mariam is the heartbreaking figure of the film, Abbass brings complexity to the character and never allows her to become a saintly victim. Instead, Abbass portrays her as a woman who has learned to transform her face into a stone mask since the attack. At one point, Meryem says openly, with a hint of resentment: “We shed all our tears. We have no tears left.” This is both an explanation for his withdrawn demeanor and an indication of the persistent lethargy that grips him.
Holbrook, meanwhile, defies reductive stereotypes while portraying the kind of painfully ordinary U.S. soldier who hastily enlists in response to 9/11. Intelligent but emotionally elusive and somewhat obtuse, Lou is devastated by what he has done. But Holbrook’s ambiguous return leaves us unclear as to how much this act of contrition was intended to make Mariam and her family feel better rather than to help her heal. Lou is truly sad, but the film asks him if he can ever be sad enough.
Ostensibly the least affected by the event (if anything, the conflict made him famous) Michael nevertheless remained engrossed in covering the war for years. Some of the most poignant moments of “Atonement” occur when Michael is alone; His professional, somewhat distant demeanor is suddenly replaced by an emptiness that engulfs him. A man without a family or even a home, Michael vicariously experiences the atrocities he covers, and Branagh’s understudy performance raises the possibility that he partially brokered this meeting because it would lead to another great story. After all, what else do you have?
Van Dyk describes these lives with a humility that belies the script’s potential for melodramatic. But like Mary, “Atonement” has nothing to do with tears, but it’s impossible not to be moved by the film’s messy, solemn humanity. It may be tempting to describe these well-intentioned characters as ordinary people trying to do their best. Van Dyk has enough respect to simplify these things so much. “Atonement” asks you to do more than sympathize with Meryem, Lou, and Michael, preferring that we understand the varying degrees of guilt, sadness, and anger that lead them to this alarming reunion. The ending is so understated yet so moving that it might take days to realize how deftly it encapsulates the common tragedy that still ensnares them all, decades later.
‘Penance’
Not rated
Running time: 1 hour 58 minutes
Playing: Opens at Landmark Nuart Theater on Friday, October 2