Lions For Lambs (2007)

Directed by: Robert Redford
Written by: Matthew Michael Carnahan

This is the kind of movie that, if watched by the right people, could make a difference.

But first, some movies that won’t make much difference.

THE GREAT DEBATERS–Besides all of the jokes that this title will bring the movie, it’s also probably going to get a big audience. Not that the story is anything different (another “teacher makes a difference in students’ lives AND the world of Civil Rights” movie), but it has a big name in it (Denzel Washington, who also directs) and it’s an Oprah Winfrey movie.

You know, I’m really glad that stories like this are getting out. We do need to know more about African American history and the way little-known people changed lives. But could we find something that sounds different? I feel like I’ve seen this movie 100 times before. I’m kinda done.

JUMPER–The only reason I’m even the slightest bit interested in this is because of the director (Doug Liman) and the actors (Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell, Samuel L. Jackson and Diane Lane–was she in the trailer at all?). Other than that, the movie looks pretty dumb. A few people can jump through space in no time. And there are always consequences to your actions. Wow. Whatever.

UNTRACEABLE–Diane Lane again. This time she’s a member of a secret agency who uses the internet to find criminals. But there’s a new one out there who ties people up and, depending on how many people log in to watch, kills them quickly or slowly. And it looks like Diane is on his hit list. I already think that I know who the killer is (or at least one of the victims), but it still looks pretty interesting.

NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS–Sigh. Nick Cage, once again, trying his best to prove that his Oscar was ill-gotten gains. He’s so freakin’ smug in this trailer that I want to hit him…and I’m still a fan! The only good things about these movies are that Diane Kruger is cute and Justin Bartha is kind of funny. Otherwise, meh.

CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR–Back in the early 80s, Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) was a Texas senator. He single-handedly got us involved in Middle Eastern politics and wars. What I’m not sure about from this trailer is whether that makes him a good guy or a bad guy. With Aaron Sorkin writing and Mike Nichols directing, I can kind of see which way it goes. But he’s pretty damn charming and likable in the trailer. And Julia Roberts likes him, too.

Oh, yeah. I guess that makes him evil.

Ok, let’s hit the real issue, if we’re allowed to.

Reporter Janine Roth (Meryl Streep) is called to Senator Jasper Irving’s (Tom Cruise) office. She gets an hour with him to find out that there is a new military operation going on in Afghanistan. One that could potentially cost MORE lives than have already been wasted over there. He wants to send small platoons in to “surgically” remove al Queda from the country.

Of course, he may have reasons for doing this beyond just “patriotism” and wanting to win “Whatever it takes.”

Political science professor Stephen Malley (Robert Redford, also directing and producing) is trying his hardest to get a promising young student, Todd Hayes (Andrew Garfield), to start coming to class and maybe even try to make a difference in the world. He knows that the potential is there, if only he could find a way to wake Todd up to it.

He tries this by telling him the story of two former students, Arian Finch (Derek Luke) and Ernest Rodriguez (Michael Pena), who showed the same promise. But they had to work at it more than Todd ever has. At the end of the semester they signed up for service. They had a reason, but Stephen didn’t agree with it. They went anyway and are now a part of Irving’s military action…that, of course, doesn’t go as planned.

There’s a LOT going on in this movie. The implications fly every which way. Not only does it implicate politicians for sending young men with courage in their hearts to their deaths (an easy target), but it implicates the press for talking about how amazing said politicians are, even if they don’t necessarily believe it themselves. They are spoon fed the “news” by these guys and then they spoon feed it to us. The politicians sit on their high horses saying, “Victory at all costs,” and they ignore the fact that the cost is actually too high. And then the reporters just tell us about the victories without telling us that there was a cost, or even forget about telling us anything and just feed us “news” about celebrities drinking too much.

There’s another one here, though, that’s not so easy and, strangely, we haven’t seen it much in films lately. The younger generation that should be the ones carrying the torch, leading the rest of us into a better place, have given up. They try their best to “live the good life,” but they forget that that good life has to be fought for. It has to be kept good. And sometimes, your hands have to get a little dirty. Not really by signing up to go to war, but by actually becoming a part of the machine and taking it down from the inside. If kids like Todd are allowed to just glide through life without thinking about where that life is going or where it came from, then the American Way is lost. As Stephen says, “What good is a $90,000 BMW if there’s not enough gas in the tank or the roads have degraded to Third World status?”

I loved this movie. It may not be perfect (a bit too preachy for “entertainment” maybe), but it brings up so many points that need to be brought up. Many of us have been saying them for the last six years, but not enough of us. Maybe, since this is no. 4 at the box office, people are starting to REALLY think about them. Maybe people are starting to listen.

The acting is good all across the board, but most of the actors don’t have to do much but be talking heads. That can be challenging at times, but it doesn’t call for a lot of emotion. Streep and Redford are great, but they’re doing nothing here that they haven’t done before. Cruise continues his string of actual decent performances, but he seems to be playing an older version of his old characters: a complete and utter douchebag who thinks that he is the greatest thing in the world. So, yeah. Nothing new there, either.

My only real problem with the movie isn’t the way it was made, but the fact that it should have been made by a younger director. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with Redford or his direction, but I think that if it had been directed by a younger director, someone that people know, it would have had more power to change younger folks’ minds. If someone like Kevin Smith had taken the time out from his normal fare and done something like this, maybe kids would have taken more notice than they probably are with this film. As it is, I’m sure it’s a bunch of older folks going to see it.

We’ll see, though. I’m just glad that it got made. It’s good to see that Matthew Michael Carnahan, screenwriter of The Kingdom, can do something besides action movies that go nowhere. (Director of that movie, Peter Berg, shows up here as the Lt. Col. who tries to get Rodriguez and Finch out of the hell that they’re in.) I wonder if all of his movies are going to be about the politics of the “War On Terror.”

Go see this movie. Help get the word out. And then, after seeing it, go fucking do something! Especially if you’re in your 20s. It’s time for you guys to stand up for yourselves. Don’t just sit around playing fucking video games. The game will still be there when you get back. America might not be.