Boyd Holbrook, Hiam Abbass and Kenneth Branagh star in writer-director Reed Van Dyk’s searing story of trauma and forgiveness following a horrifying event during the Iraq War. Based on Dexter Filkins’ 2012 New Yorker essay of the same name, ATONEMENT asks difficult questions about reconciliation and trauma while acknowledging that everyone seeks out different means of moving on.
In Baghdad, in 2003, U.S. Marine Lou D’Alessandro (Holbrook) and his unit open fire on two ostensibly hostile vehicles. Three passengers are killed before it’s revealed that those vehicles were carrying three generations of a civilian family. A decade later, following a dishonorable discharge, Lou is back in San Diego, haunted by the incident, unsupported by Veterans Affairs, and unable to continue the life he started before the war. Meanwhile, Mariam (Abbass), the matriarch of the family torn apart on that fateful day, has begun a new life in Glendale with her daughter’s young family. She’s profiled by journalist Michael Reid (Branagh), who was also in Baghdad when the tragedy unfolded. Desperate to explain his side of the story, Lou asks Michael to broker a meeting with Mariam. Though terrified of reopening old wounds, Lou believes this might be everyone’s best chance to finally heal.
“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…. Bringing it home is a formidable performance from the great Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass; her presence cannot be separated from the history that lives on her face.” —Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire “ATONEMENT comes to a place that, in a lesser film, might appear sentimental but in this one is bracingly real. You can feel the movie burning away the fog of war.” —Owen Gleiberman, Variety “The performances across the board are keenly felt yet commendably unshowy: Branagh gets his character’s crumped forbearance spot on, while Abbass’s portrayal of Christian fortitude in the direst of circumstances becomes the wellspring of the film’s deep, multi-axial compassion.” —Tim Robey, The Telegraph
