 |  | | Lions for Lambs |
Review #563 of 365
Movie Review of Lions for Lambs (2007) [R] 88 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $14.50
Where Viewed:
When 1st Seen: 10 November 2007
Time: 11:10 pm
DVD Release Date: 8 April 2008 (click date to purchase or pre-order)
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
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Directed by: Robert Redford (The Legend of Bagger Vance)
Screenplay by: Matthew Michael Carnahan (The Kingdom)
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Robert Redford (Charlotte's Web) • Meryl Streep (Rendition) • Tom Cruise (Mission: Impossible III) • Michael Peña (Shooter) • Andrew Garfield ("Sugar Rush") • Peter Berg (Smokin' Aces) • Kevin Dunn (Transformers) • Derek Luke (Catch a Fire)
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Click to see photos from the Premiere of Lions for Lambs
According to Professor Stephen Malley (Robert Redford), the expression "Lions led by lambs" comes from comments made by German soldiers in reference to the British grunts who fought so valiantly under the command of lesser men. Given that this expression evolves to Lions for Lambs and then becomes the origin of the title for Matthew Michael Carnahan's screenplay adapted by Robert Redford for the big screen, it's hard to comprehend how people could view this film as being Anti-war or Anti-American. The film is neither. Rather the film, which plays more like a sophisticated college course lecture than a traditional film, is a call for thought. Just as Professor Malley urges his reluctant student Todd Hayes (Andrew Garfield) to step up to his potential, the film does everything it can to urge us all, not just USAers, but all of humanity to spend more time thinking about our actions and their subsequent usually unpredictable consequences--no matter how well-intentioned or believably righteous. Yes, the film does lecture, and sorry but sometimes that's just exactly what people need. And, it would be unfortunate if many people did not take the time to listen and consider what is being said.
"…sharp wit, deep truth, and dogged perception of that which goes on beneath the surface."
It would also be unfortunate if people do not listen to themselves talk and think sometimes long enough to realize how they sound. In a nation founded on the rare principles of freedom of speech, thought, and ideas, how un-American does it sound when some people automatically categorize ideas in opposition to their own as being anti-American? Arguably, one could posit it is precisely those people who are actually anti- or even un-American for the founders of the nation, the authors of the Constitution, wanted this nation to be led among the voices of dissent, not by an all-knowing King or dictator who suppressed, killed, tortured, hid, squelched, those who disagreed with his absolute rule. How ironic the voices that suggest the people who disagree with the state of affairs regarding the world's longest-lasting, continuously operating government be labeled nearly traitors when alternative views have been the strength and lifeblood of this nation since its foundation. Well, Lions for Lambs does just that it forces consideration of alternatives. It brilliantly does so by interweaving three simultaneously occurring stories: (a) an interview between a powerful GOP senator from Illinois named Jasper Irving (Tom Cruise) with the journalist, Janine Roth (Meryl StreeP, who once labeled him the future of his party as he works to convince her that he's found the answer, the strategy, that will finally win the war on terror in Afghanistan, (b) enlisted soldiers Arian Finch (Derek Luke) and Ernest Rodriguez (Michael Peña) face certain death when their mission to claim a mountain plateau in Afghanistan using the new Jasper Irving-inspired strategy goes terribly wrong stranding them virtually defenseless in the heart of a Taliban controlled region, and (c) Professor Malley meets with Todd Hayes who's stopped coming to class after starting off the semester by stirring up one of the most lively debate conversations the Professor's ever witnessed when he challenges the worth, success, and logic of a California clinic's policy to distribute clean syringes to heroine addicts by comparing it to adding drunk driving-only lanes to interstate highways. As the film progresses, each story forces the players to consider and re-consider what they value most. Senator Irving admits to past mistakes and failures made by the Congress and the Executive Branch, but he also admonishes Janine Roth for being unwilling to accept the role the press had in the outcomes. Rodriguez and Finch, both injured on impact upon falling out of the tail of their transport helicopter, must face their fears and the consequences of both their decision to enlist and their blind faith in a military strategy being run by people far away making decisions of convenience. Back in California, Todd Hayes, whose life has become the traditional cliché of the upper middle class American dream to become a rich and successful whatever, must decide whether to accept the Professor's deal: never come to class again or enroll again in any of his classes and get a B no questions asked, or never miss another class, participate, and earn the grade he actually would deserve. As fate of the screenplay would have it, Todd will learn that Rodriguez and Finch were Malley's former students and bright hopes for the future. After submitting an amazing final project presentation in which they suggested a plan for real and instrumental national change, they announced that they were not going to go the route of grad school with the plan to become rich and successful at the expense of gigantic student loans, rather they were enlisting to fight for and make an immediate difference in the country. The film takes to task everyone from those who sit and do nothing, to those that drop out of the conversation due to frustration or fear, to those that war-monger ahead because they passionately believe that war is the solution to all conflicts, to those who criticize but fail to act—talk is cheap, to those that would fail to try something new because they know deep down it will actually work but they overtly do not want change. The film is a fascinating mental exercise in forcing thought surrounding so much of what has happened in the past 7 years of USA history. One of the most important lessons the film teaches is that it's so simple to point the finger, regardless of political party, at the others in sourcing the problem or the blame. The fact of the matter is, we are all part of the problem or deserving of the blame inasmuch as we either have or have not acted, done anything, sat down and wrote letters if nothing else, to make our presence on the issues felt. In a free democracy for, of, and by the people, if the people acquiesce to those of powerful special interest groups, corporations, religious leaders, etc., then they are no longer active participants shaping their government and their nation they are but the cogs in a machine that will roll onward inexorably in the direction of those driving. It was not the intention of the framers of our Constitution that we become the Lions for Lambs or worse the Lambs for Lambs. The writing for the film is as strong as you could ever expect--sharp wit, deep truth, and dogged perception of that which goes on beneath the surface. This fertile dialogue gave the actors much with which to work. While nearly an ensemble in feeling and scope, the actors deliver enthralling and engaging performances. Tom Cruise demonstrates the power of pearly white teeth and no-nonsense self-confidence that propels people in the political game. Meryl Streep, in her second commanding role of the fall 2007 where she plays figures who have to deal with the current geopolitical climate, could do no more than she has to lend her considerable gifts as the greatest, living, leading actress of our time to helping make a difference. In taking these roles her name as an actress helps to get them made, her fans into the theaters, and her intelligence and extraordinary talent mesmerizing people and forcing them to consider all that is at play in the story. Robert Redford has done a nearly perfect job of directing this film that, due to the story structure, was not easy to conform to a traditional film spool. He acts his own part nearly entirely from behind a college professor's desk with his able acting cohort, young Andrew Garfield, handsomely responding to his questions designed to provoke intensive mental gymnastics. Lastly, the work of Michael Peña and Derek Luke as the face of the men and women in uniform who put their lives actually on the line every day carrying out dangerous missions in potentially hostile territory do the soldiers in the American military proud. These are very brave human beings, and they dignify the real front liners with their outstanding performances with courage and valor.
If there were one politically motivated film to recommend this year that has the power to make the biggest and longest-lasting impact on the future of the USA, that film would be Michael Moore's Sicko, and Lions for Lambs would be number two.
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Other Projects Featuring Lions for Lambs (2007)
Cast Members
Robert Redford
• Meryl Streep • Tom CruiseMichael Peña
• Andrew Garfield • Peter BergKevin Dunn
• Derek LukeDirector
Robert Redford
Writer
Matthew Michael Carnahan
| CD Soundtrack | DVD | VHS |
Three interrelated stories force consideration of the consequences of surrendering democracy to special interests, as Robert Redford directs what amounts to a sophisticated college lecture in how easy it is to lose oneself in the rhetoric of the media, the government, and special interest groups. Matthew Michael Carnahan's flowing dialogues between a GOP Senator and the journalist that defined him, two special ops soldiers stranded on a plateau in a Taliban-controlled region of Afghanistan, and a college professor who works to persuade a student to live up to his potential for really making a difference in the world all sum up to make an outstanding film and the second best film of the year when it comes to the potential to inspire lasting progress.
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