Atonement

Baghdad, 2003. The Khachaturian family take a wrong turn and wind up in the middle of a firefight. US Marines open fire on their car; there are multiple casualties. Ten years later, San Diego. Lou (Boyd Holbrook) still has nightmares about that day. He’s working as a bouncer and a construction worker, trying to get into law school, but his body is racked with guilt. He reaches out to an American journalist who reported on the deaths of the Khachaturians, Michael (Kenneth Branagh) and asks if he can broker a meeting with the survivors…

Based on a New Yorker article by Dexter Filkins, Atonement navigates challenging, politically-charged psychological territory with diligence and sensitivity. First time writer-director Reed Van Dyk gets a big assist from veteran Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass as the matriarch of the Iraqi family, and who becomes the film’s focal point in the simple, but very moving, last act.

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.

A- Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire

An intelligent and involving film that successfully questions Hollywood cliches of war drama.

Jonathan Romney, Screen International