Joe Wright’s Atonement, the acclaimed World War 2 film featuring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, certainly left its mark with seven Oscar nods and a whopping fourfold box office profit.
Gripping and beautifully filmed, Atonement centres on the events of one sweltering summer day in 1935, the repercussions of which echo across six decades. It features a breathtaking five-minute long shot, which required 1,000 extras, portraying the chaos of the Dunkirk evacuation through the eyes of James McAvoy’s character. If that piques your interest, there are just days left to catch the war film on Netflix before it goes off the streaming platform on June 16.
Atonement holds a 83% ‘fresh’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The site’s critics consensus says: “Atonement features strong performances, brilliant cinematography, and a unique score. Featuring deft performances from James MacAvoy and Keira Knightley, it’s a successful adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel.”
It won Best Film at the BAFTAs, Best Original Score at the Academy Awards, and snagged Saoirse Ronan an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the mere age of 13.
The film opened both 2007 Venice and Vancouver Film Festivals, crowning Wright the youngest director to open the former at a mere 35 years old.
Critic Andrew Collins rated the film five stars in Radio Times, enthusing: “Atonement transcends the expectations of its country-house setting, via the privations of war, to deliver a knockout twist that works better on the screen than it did on the page.”
“In its first 45 minutes, Atonement achieves a kind of perfection rare even for big Oscar-bait movies,” said film critic Bruce Newman with a caveat: “Every facet of the filmmaking is the equal of any picture released this year. The rest of the movie isn’t so bad.”
Fans have been vocal about the film, with the most popular review on the Letterboxd platform reading: “13 years old saoirse ronan was robbed of that oscar for her performance as THE DEVIL.”
Meanwhile, on Google, one particularly passionate fan said Dunkirk (2017) fell compartively short: “I deeply appreciate Atonement for other reasons and while the films are about 10 years apart I am utterly perplexed by how Nolan’s Dunkirk became the critical darling it is, especially since this film exists.”
“This film isn’t about the evacuation of Dunkirk or WWII (those elements form the background for a fully realized troubled romance and family drama) and YET this film spends about 20 minutes on Dunkirk and it conveys the horror, defeat and dread of it it far sharper and more resonant than Nolan’s film does for its entire run time.”
On Letterboxd, one review with over 6,300 likes simply said: “the five-minute long take on the beach >>>>>>> dunkirk (2017)”.
Atonment joins another World War 2 film, Inglorious Basterds, departing Netflix on June 16.
