BrendanW 
The first thing I heard about before seeing this film is that it was incredibly close to its source material. That can always go a number of different ways quality-wise though. You either have a mini-series like The Shining directed by Stephen King himself that was pretty much word-for-word similar to the book and also stunk to high heaven as a film or you can get something like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the Fincher version) which is apparently quite close to the novel and also a critically-lauded film. This, thankfully, fell in more of the latter group than the former one and proved to be quite a wonderful little film even if it was laboriously-paced at times.
The plot of the film concerns the story of a World War I veteran named Tom Sherbourne (Michael Fassbender) who decides to live a life of isolation as a lighthouse keeper. However, he soon meets up with a lovely lady named Isabel (Alicia Vikander) who soon becomes his bride and shares his isolation. After several failed attempts to have a child of their own, fate strikes when a boat washes on-shore containing a recently-deceased young man and a crying infant. They take the child in and raise her as their own much to the resistance of Tom as he knows what implications may come as a result of their actions. Sure enough, complications ensue when the real mother (Rachel Weisz) shows up and the young couple must fight with their decision: do we tell her or continue to raise the child unbeknownst to everyone else that she is not actually their offspring?
The acting is on POINT in this film as you would be likely to expect from a film starring acting heavyweights Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander. Fassbender is a terrific leading man and underplays a kind of somber part that you wouldn’t usually see out of a character like this. Michael is not the stereotypical traumatized and/or injured war veteran that has flashbacks or anything like that. He seems to love his peace and tranquility but he is also a loving and accepting person that wants no harm to come to those around him. Vikander is equally terrific and her emotional scenes in which she struggles to hold on to her child are heart-wrenching to say the least. She is a great match for Fassbender and makes what could otherwise appear as a “screaming/crying banshee” role into so much more. She brings such a depth and warmth to a part and somehow makes even some questionable tactics into things we can sort of understand and accept given her circumstances. Rachel Weisz has a much smaller, but pivotal role and does quite a good job as well. It’s nice to see Weisz in another big mainstream film although this movie will probably not be as widely-seen as some of her other work.
One of the best aspects of this film is the cinematography. Director Derek Cianfrance along with his cinematographer Adam Arkapaw create a beautiful landscape that uses the Australian setting to its fullest potential as they capture gorgeous sunsets/sunrises, detailed architecture and breathtaking scenery. One thing I noticed is that this gradually becomes less apparent as the film progresses into the subject matter at hand concerning the moralistic dilemma that our characters must figure out how to deal with themselves. As the drama intensifies, we suddenly get more intimate with scenes and become more confined to smaller rooms and scenes involving close-up conversations with less characters. This is a technique that is subtle and barely even noticeable but your subconscious takes it all in and then you realize later what you have actually witnessed.
The writing is pretty solid. What we have here are two main characters that are not black or white in terms of the things they do but rather they incorporate several different motivations depending on their situation at the time. They are always cast in shades of gray. I would say Fassbender is the more logical of the two but even he gets swept up in the situation and they become equally guilty. However, the film often makes you debate with yourself – are they justified? Have they taken it too far? Did something else get in the way of their decision-making and is that their fault? Again, these are all questions that I do not believe can be answered definitively and that is definitely the makings of a well-written film if you can get people to debate and have multiple sides to most of the issues at hand. The film does break down a little bit in the last third or so and tends to get a little bit muddled but it never falls completely off the mark so much that it can’t redeem itself with some of its other positive aspects. The film could’ve probably had a few minutes chopped off and there is one scene at the end that I thought was almost completely unnecessary but everything up to that point had been rock-solid.
It’s touching, runs a little too long and has some terrific acting, solid writing and cinematography. Give it a watch… if you get a chance before it’s out of theatres.
****
Rating System:
* (Brutal; the worst rating)
** (Some elements keep it from being awful but still not very good)
*** (Completely watchable; a rental as old-timers might say)
**** (Great film with a few things here and there keeping it from being perfect)
***** (Flawless; a true achievement)
