Tuesday

The Good Shepherd is a brilliant film. I had gone into it expecting to be bored. The trailers had made it look quite dull and uninteresting, and I had noticed the film was almost three hours long. So, I sat down in my seat grudgingly, preparing to criticise the movie. Straight away, however, I was interested. Nothing was explained. I don't mean that the film is a mystery, or deliberately cryptic, but that it treats its audience as intelligent. The division Eddie Izzard makes between British and American movies is illuminating here; in the former people wander around in empty houses opening doors and not saying anything to each other; in the latter people express their emotions immediately and they have extreme consequences. The Good Shepherd, although American, is definitely more British in its sentiment. We are not told what or how to think. Things are not explained or sign-posted to us brashly. The movie, in a way, is very straightforward, very clear. But rather than naive, I would rather label this mature. Its presentation exactly mirrors its main character, excellent played by Matt Damon (who can't have more than thirty seconds of consecutive dialogue throughout). He is silent and contemplative, acts and offers no explanations to us for his acts. Angelina Jolie is unsuitable as his wife, and his son looks a little bit too old to be believable, but otherwise everyone else is good. There are no clever tricks, or hints at a contemporary political message. It's about a man, a sensitively portrayed man, his actions and their flaws. A very refreshing film.