Andell Entertainment/United Artists/Brat Na Pont Productions
Released November 9, 2007
I recall watching A River Runs Through It as an adolescent with my family and being moved as Robert Redford took me to a place far away. Whether behind the camera, in front of the lens, or both; Redford embodies an American generation that has questioned, died for, and redefined our global society. When I sat down to watch Lions For Lambs I did not know what to expect. I read about the recent box office failures of many "anti-war films" in the U.S. that made me want to experience them first hand. Redford's Lions For Lambs gave me a clear understanding of war in the war that has plagued our nation for too many years.
The film has three intertwined stories that cover the vital components of today's war. Redford plays a conflicted professor at a nameless university on the west coast. He is troubled by the fact that his two most valued students enlisted during his Political Science class and joined the "War on Terror". The audience meets the former students Arian (Derek Luke) and Ernest (Michael Pena) while they are being briefed on their mission in Afghanistan. The U.S. military has a new strategy and it is revealed as the two inexperienced soldiers head out with their platoon to "take the high ground". As RPG’s hit their helicopter, Arian and Ernest are down behind enemy lines and the real terror begins.
Meanwhile in a comfortable office in Washington D.C.; Senator Jasper Irving (Tom Cruise), a presidential hopeful and leader in America's holy war, meets with journalist Jannie Roth (Meryl Streep) to discuss the "new" strategy. Roth quickly discovers that the Senator is desperate to boost the Republican parties popularity by winning the "heart and souls of the people". Irving's "win at all cost" and trial and error strategies were some of the same plunders experienced in Vietnam. As the powerful politician attempts to feed propaganda to the media, the audience receives a glimpse of the revolting reality many refer to as the news. Roth finds herself in a quandary -- write the fiction she was handed that her editor and many people would revel in or write the real story of Senator Irving making rushed decisions and lose her job. Redford and writer Mathew Michael Carnahan are able to show how strangers thousands of miles apart impact each other in profound ways.
I remember when a professor of mine in Brooklyn asked our history class what cause we would die for. No one seemed to have a definitive answer. Carnahan wrote this film to force the viewer ponder a similar idea. When do we sacrifice our comfortable life to make a stand to protect and fight for what we believe in?
As the situation in the mountains of Afghanistan continues to get worse so does the meeting that Redford's character has with his spoiled ungrateful student. The last half of the movie shows an accurate account of how war brings about nothing good. The fact that there is no plan to bring our troops home, but only to attack in a different manor is sad. The idea of killing people to help people is illogical. The quote from President Theodore Roosevelt sheds light on our present situation in the world.
"If I choose between Righteousness and Peace I choose Righteousness."
I never marched in any anti-war marches in New York when I lived there. I have a cousin in the Marines and a friend who enlisted in the Army over a year ago and is shipping out again after Christmas. If there were a march for peace I would stand at the front and be proud. Peace is the only cause that I know is worth dying for.
3.5 out of 4
(review by tee diddee)
Editor's Note: Tee Diddy is one of my favorite writers for this site and took the time to write this review from China. My best to you Thomas during this Christmas season as you yourself are in a far away place.
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