Atonement

Starring James McAvoy and our darling Keira Knightly, Atonement, set before and during the second World War, is a great film. Good acting and a fairly solid, mainly well thought, storyline make it an emotionally charged watch.

I had one issue with it, though. If you haven’t seen the film, I’m not actually sure if what I’m about to say is a spoiler, but I think it’s best to be safe rather than sorry.

The story centres around a girl, Briony Tallis, who has an amazingly inventive imagination. She mistakes an unfortunate series of events for something completely seperate to the actual events, which of course, the viewer is aware of. Consequently, Bobbie Turner (McAvoy), is given a choice after being convicted of rape on the girl’s eye witness report.

The story goes on to tell of Robbie Turner’s experiences and love for Tallis’ sister, Cecilia (Knightly). All very cute, don’t you think?

Sylvia

 So yes, now to my issue. Why the hell didn’t a character so reminscent, in appearance and imagination, of Sylvia Plath, not follow in the latter’s footsteps and commit suicide after her most terrible of acts?! The film ends in a stupid way, in my opinion. Tallis is “atoned” after having lived the life of a successful writer, who in her last work outlines the story of guilt and heartbreak that she, her sister and Bobbie go through.

The Tallis Sisters

I know I have an obsession with death, I do study it 25% of the time at University after-all. But seriously, the ending should have come with a nice overdose or jugular vein slitting/slashing; whichever you prefer. I know I’d prefer overdose. The question is…crack or heroin?

Go watch Atonement. Rated 8.1 according to IMDb.

Soldier(s)

According to new research carried out by the New York Times, at least 121 US soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan killed someone or were charged with murder or manslaughter after returning from a war zone.

The research states that there has been a 90% increase in deaths that involved veterans since 2001 and that in 75% of these cases the veterans were still in the military at the time of the killings. The shocking thing is, most of the offenders did not have criminal records prior to service abroad.

This report came into circulation after a 2005 Las Vegas murder committed by 20 year old Iraq veteran Matthew Sepi (pictured), who claimed he had been plagued by nightmares of his experiences on the front line. He stated also that the killing of Iraqi civilians by his unit meant he could not sleep or think straight, and needed alcohol to numb the pain. 

Let’s hope, in future, our governments will look after the men and women who go out to fight the wars that none of us want to be involved in, in the first place.