Lions for Lambs
DIR: Robert Redford • WRI: Matthew Michael Carnahan • PROD: Robert Redford, Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tracy Falco, Andrew Hauptman • DOP: Philippe Rousselot • ED: Joe Hutshing • DES: Jan Roelfs • CAST: Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise, Michael Peña, Andrew Garfield, Peter Berg, Kevin Dunn, Derek Luke, Larry Bates, Christopher May, David Pease, Heidi Janson, Christopher Carley, George Back, Kristy Wu

Lions for Lambs was directed by and features the astonishingly well-preserved Robert Redford. Written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, who also wrote The Kingdom (another Iraq war-movie, directed by Peter Berg, who also appears in this), it also features Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise.

There are three intertwining stories. In one, Streep plays a TV journalist, who is interviewing a senator played by Cruise, mostly about his strategies in the War on Terror. Another involves Redford as a Political Science professor in a discussion with a talented but lazy student (played by Andrew Garfield). In the third, and what turns out to be the central story, two soldiers (Derek Luke and Michael Pena) get stuck on a snowy Afghanistan mountaintop, surrounded by enemy soldiers. It’s interesting watching the three stories become more inter-connected, and the third strand offers a welcome change from the first two, which are essentially conversations in offices.

Not surprisingly, it’s a very talky film, but it’s only 88 minutes long, and we get to see dialogue scenes between some pretty big names. The thread with Redford himself has a warmth to it, but you’re less sure of where it’s going. Also, you get the feeling people like Garfield are the target of the film: disaffected youths, people who might just be able to make a difference in the future (and according to a recent study, college students born after 1982 are the most narcissistic generation in recent history, so they may really be in need of a swift kick where it counts). I’m undecided as to how good Tom Cruise’s acting is; he’s intense but there’s something not quite there. However, this is no impediment to playing a slick, shark-like politician. Meryl Streep is, as usual, beyond reproach. If anything, she seems too be having more fun these days than in her earlier, more critically acclaimed roles.

The seriousness of the subject matter is occasionally lightened with moments of humour, and there’s an effective feeling of claustropohobia created by the office settings. When Streep comes outside to hail a taxi after her interview, it feels good to be out in the fresh air. The early sequences of planes over some mountains seem oddly artificial – almost as if they’ve accidentally flown into Middle Earth, or the Himalayas of Black Narcissus – but things improve once we’re brought to earth with Luke and Pena.

It obviously has a lot to say, and does swerve dangerously towards preachiness. At the end it feels like they want to look straight into the camera and say: ‘Now what are you going to do about it?’ Still, it doesn’t become overbearing. It’s hard to say specifically what the message of the film is – it doesn’t offer any answers, but then, to do so would be dishonest, because who has answers? Its main aim is to make you think, and in that respect, it is a success.

Tim Hanan
(Read biog here)

Rated 12A (see IFCO website for details)
Lions for Lambs is released on 9th November 2007
Lions for Lambs – Official website