Atonement
Film adaptation of Ian McEwan’s best-selling novel (this month’s book of the month). Shot on location in the U.K., we witness several decades in the lives of several people. In 1935, 13-year-old Briony Tallis and her family live a life of wealth and privilege in their enormous mansion. Robbie Turner the educated son of the family’s housekeeper, carries a torch for Briony’s headstrong older sister Cecilia, he hopes she shares his feelings; it seems that all it will take is one spark for this relationship to combust. When it does, Briony — who has a crush on Robbie — witnesses an event that she childishly misconstrues. Her misunderstanding leads to a terrible crime whose consequences follow them through World War II. Cecilia and Robbie declare their love for each other, but, through Briony’s false testament, Robbie is arrested — and the course of three lives is changed forever. As she comes to realise what she has done Briony desperately tries to seek forgiveness for her childhood misdeed. Through a terrible and courageous act of imagination, she finds the path to her uncertain atonement, and to an understanding of the power of enduring love.