A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: The Good Shepherd

Date Viewed: 12/29/06

Details:

Matt Damon (Edward Wilson)

Angelina Jolie

Alec Baldwin

Tammy Blanchard

Robert De Niro

Keir Dullea

Michael Gambon

William Hurt

Director: Robert De Niro

Score: +1/2

The Review: From the tables down at Morey's (or at least the secret societies of Yale) to the post-game analysis of the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion, this is a fictional biography of the CIA, narrated through the still small voice of the (also fictional) man who eventually became the head of counter-intelligence.

Edward Wilson (Damon) is one of John Le Carre's "drab little people" -- an almost pathologically quiet nebbish with little personality and definitely no sense of humor, the kind of person who makes an excellent spy. His character serves as the point-of-view for this film as we watch the creation of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) before the incept of WW-II, and its transmogrification into the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the war's aftermath and the inevitable march toward Soviet confrontation. It's amazing that such an intentionally colorless individual can be played with such clarity and consistency that he becomes a fascinating and very interesting character in spite of himself. This is in large measure due to Damon's acting abilities, but it also indicates kudos for De Niro's first attempt in the director's chair. Perhaps part of the attraction for Wilson's character comes from those of us who watched a rather different, but equally chilling performance, in The Talented Mr. Ripley.

A series of excellent supporting roles fill out the bill. Much has been said about Angelina Jolie's role as girlfriend and wife; it's not a large role, and yes, possibly could have been expanded. But even as it is presented, it is quite disturbing to watch her descent from vivacious young adult to a nearly unresponsive, almost drugged wife and parent -- a horrifying way of illustrating the old saw that married couples begin to converge toward one another. More interesting as a character, in my opinion, is Edward's first love, a mostly deaf Tammy Blanchard -- not a classical beauty, but she is definitely the more attractive of the two.

Elder roles abound. Alec Baldwin is a senior director in the FBI; William Hurt, the head of the CIA; and acting as well as directing, De Niro is an ex-general who spearheads the formation of the OSS/CIA, and offers such suggestions as to be Edward's mentor and conscience. More curious is Michael Gambon as Edward's English literature professor at Yale, who turns out to have several layers of secrets.

The time-structure of the film is straightforward, albeit nonlinear -- with subroutine cuts back in time, always returning to a more slowly developing anchor line. This makes the piecemeal, retrospective and historical narrative (all the way back to 1939) easy to integrate with the ongoing investigation of the Cuban invasion failure (representing the current day, in April, 1961), while doing a gradual reveal across both time-tracks. Each jump is clearly telegraphed and not at all confusing.

This is one of the better films I've seen in the past few months, both an interesting topic and a compelling character study. But there's a disturbing back-story that infiltrates your subconscious -- the developing arrogance of the CIA staff, the occasional "black op" (and it's not always clear which "side" was responsible) undercutting the integrity of agency function -- all this sets up a worrying undercurrent of doubt as to the effectiveness, oversight and control of one of the more powerful branches of the US government.

(1-Jan-07)

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