Atonement : a tale of a tale

I still haven't decided whether it's okay for the audience to know the ending before watching Atonement, the Golden Globe best picture starring Keira Knightly and James McAvoy. Because in this otherwise epic story about a pair of lovers in a war-torn Europe, the twist in the end is the very essence that makes this film transcendent. But the twist can also put off some movie-goers, the same way one's annoyed when his steak turned out differently from what he saw on the menu.

The movie is really, among many things, a one-hour-and-fifty-nine-minute long trailer for Ian McEwan's novel. Because regardless of the questions and messages it tossed to the audience before the credits rolled, the dominant feeling I got was this: go and read the novel.

Despite the suggestion of the movie's title (and the novel it was adapted from), Atonement is surprisingly free of any religious connotations. There were literally few or no symbols of repentance at all, nor common notions of forgiveness and reconciliation. Of course there is a beautiful scene in which British soldiers gathered by a beach-side podium, singing a hymn with great passion; but that was part of a long tracking shot that simply underlined the dehumanizing nature of war. The church, too, appears only once in the entire film--the venue of a wedding which the narrator attends.

In essence, the movie is a very modern, secular take on the notion of atonement. On a superficial level, a person would leave the theater thinking that the moral of the story is this: "Do not lie. Because you will regret it for the rest of your life." But the movie does provide something more than a moral lesson.

In Briony's case, the only route she took to seek atonement was through her writings, yet it's pretty much up to the audience to interpret whether or not her sins had been atoned for. Because even though the elderly Briony clearly regrets the foolish acts she committed when she was thirteen, the biggest tragedy, perhaps, is the fact that she was never able to tell the truth to those whom she had hurt so deeply. The irony was that Briony's choice had determined her sister's and Robbie's fate; but it was fate that ultimately put an end to all her attempts of reconciliation.

Personally, I don't think Atonement presents a very bleak view of life. Instead, it leaves us with the notion that it is okay to not know everything. The brilliance of the story is that, by the time it finally registers in our minds, we're never quite sure whether we've understood the whole picture. Like Briony, we may never know, because we can no longer separate fiction from reality. Our memories fail us; our shame stops us from action.

The encouraging thing is that we still have the chance to share our story while we're alive. How easy it is to present a rosy picture of ourselves to others, but that's an unlikely path to atonement.

Without the brilliant ending, Atonement would be just another love story. But because Ian McEwan broke down the fourth wall and let us in to the heart and mind of a human being--the person we call "author"--the story breathes life into itself and becomes transformed.

There is really nothing more a writer can create other than what is already there. A writer, after all, is still a human being. What he or she can do is to tell a story so well, so clearly, you'd understand the truth beneath.

I recommend this film to anyone who loves literature, because you'll have to look closely in order to discover its message.