This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Loyalties In a Can Of Worms
Plot Overview
After having
witnessed as a boy his scandal-ridden father's suicide, Edward
Wilson (Matt Damon) keeps mum about the “accident” and
grows up to attend Yale majoring in English Literature with
aspirations to teach, being a poet in his own right. He is tapped
for membership in the exclusive Skull and Bones Society, which
makes up for a lack of male influence in his life. The FBI enlists him
to rat out a Nazi sympathizer professor. When war breaks out in
Europe, women drop their skirts in the states and even Edward
sometimes gets lucky.
A parson prays at the opening of every
bonesmen meeting, and Christmas is celebrated in due course at
its season. God has some priority here but must compete for first
place. Oh, well. Clan loyalties encompass the mafia don Joseph
Palmi (Joe Pesci) who asks, “We Italians, we got our
families, and we got the church; the Irish, they have the
homeland, Jews their tradition; even the niggers, they got
their music. What about you people, Mr. Wilson, what do you
have?” Wilson replies: “The United States of America.
The rest of you are just visiting.” General Bill Sullivan in
recruiting Wilson for the about-to-be-formed CIA says: “I'll
be looking for patriotic, honorable, bright young men from the
right backgrounds to manage the various departments. In other
words, no Jews or Negroes, and very few Catholics, and that's only
because I'm a Catholic.” Allowing for the times, that's akin
to author Howard Owen:
[T]his is a Christian town, a Protestant town—hell, a Baptist town. It's all right to have a little spice, but there ain't nothing wrong with a good piece of tenderloin as is. And that's St. Andrews. Nothing fancy, just good, plain, quality people who want a decent town. (136–7)
Eddie is seduced by
Margaret “Clover” Russell (Angelina Jolie) an uppity
Senator's daughter who's “looking for the perfect
husband.” He doesn't love her but did “what's
expected” when she fell pregnant by him—no Roe
v. Wade back then. Immediately after the wedding he gets
assigned as British liaison in London where he wasn't wanted, but
they had to take him. He becomes a “serious son of a bitch
that didn't have any sense of humor.” After six years of war
he returns to the states and to a dead marriage and the new
CIA that
replaced the former OSS of the war years. He develops loving
relations with his admiring son Edward Wilson Jr. (Eddie
Redmayne) who seeks to follow his dad: to Yale,, to the Bones
Society, to the agency, and ultimately to a must marriage to a girl
of questioned loyalty.
Ideology
It's up for grabs how the son's romantic escapade will turn out, but that's nothing new. (Prov. 30:18- 19) “There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not: The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.” The writer of this proverb juxtaposed three hard-to-track movements with romantic intrigues: a soaring eagle, a slithering snake, and a tossed-about ship. TGS employs images from the same three venues to prepare the viewer for the unanticipated love machinations. “The way of an eagle in the air” corresponds to the light plane carrying the honey-pot bride to the anxiously awaiting groom. Will she be dropped?
“The way of a serpent upon a
rock” corresponds to a college library scene where Edward is
distracted by the pencil tapping of pretty co-ed Laura (Tammy
Blanchard.) She doesn't respond to his request to stop it as she's
deaf (“I can't hear.”) He must physically intervene.
Likewise, a girl is oblivious to getting herself knocked
up when it occurs, and birth control isn't always effective.
“The way of a ship in the midst of the sea” corresponds to Eddie's ship-in-a-bottle hobby. The completed craft is inserted through the neck after which the hinged rigging is flipped up to fill the glass. Boys grow up to be men. There are fifteen flags altogether on the bottled ship: fourteen Union Jacks and one pirate flag. Sometimes a boy will grow to be a near perfect husband.
Production Values
“” (2006) was directed by Robert De Niro. It was written by Eric Roth. It stars Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie and Robert De Niro. Damon gave a deathly quiet performance. Kudos to Michael Gambon for his supporting role as a supposed Nazi sympathizer, British college professor, but in reality a double agent cum homosexual slated for elimination.
MPA rated it R for some violence, sexuality and language. The tone is dark with occasional lightening music. It makes extensive use of flashbacks, well edited and with place & date notes. Runtime stretches to 2¾ hours.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
This spy movie doesn't glamorize the biz. Even the spy's wife can't get satisfaction from bragging on her cipher of a husband in the “American Trade Bureau.” Life with her mother in Phoenix would be more interesting. As a point of fact even Ian Flemming's Ur-Bond harbored many regrets. This one works well as a drama but not so much as a thriller.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Decent action scenes. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Well done special effects. Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Three and a half stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Owen, Howard. The Measured Man. Copyright © 1997 by Howard Owen. New York: HarperCollinsPublishers, first edition, 1997. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org