'Atonement' Review: Reed Van Dyk's Anti-War Debut Delivers Emotional Power Through Intimate Character Study
By
Kate Erbland
15d ago· 8 min readenReview
100/100
Golden Brown
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Score100TypereviewSentimentpositive
Summary
A review of Reed Van Dyk's feature debut "Atonement," an adaptation of Dexter Filkins' 2012 New Yorker article "Atonement After Iraq." The film is described as an intimate, psychologically astute anti-war portrait of the human cost of U.S. imperial violence, starring Hiam Abbass and Boyd Holbrook. The review praises the film for its emotional depth and cinematic power in putting audiences inside the characters' experiences.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledThis is a war film less ordinary, for it is imbued with the emotional acuity of a life-changing therapist.
Following the lead of Filkins' source material ('I remember reading this piece because I cried all the way through it,' Van Dyk told the audience at a Directors' Fort...)
This intimate and psychologically astute portrait of the human cost of U.S. imperial violence draws a precise focus from what cinema is built for: putting us in a character's skin.
Reed Van Dyk's intimate, psychologically astute, and true portrait of the human cost of U.S. imperial violence stars Hiam Abbass and Boyd Holbrook.
