The Trials of Arabella
::SPOILER WARNING::
So Saturday I finished reading Atonement. I had been holding off going to see the movie until I finished the book, and was becoming anxious that I would not finish it before the movie left theaters. Luckily for me I got it finished in time to see a 10:20 showing that morning.
They did a pretty decent job keeping the story in the movie similar to the story in the book. They followed the same time line, no matter how sporadic or misleading it may have been. The movie held the same bizarre confusion as the book which was nice. I would have assumed the movie would have attempted to do everything chronologically. I was really kind of impressed how honest the movie was to the book in the beginning. The movie did not follow the book as closely once Robbie was arrested. There were moments of similarity but a lot of the heart was missing. Cecilia and Robbie’s difficulty remaining attached to each other due to the distance and their fight to hold on to a brief moment in the library through letters and such until Robbie returned were not as poignant in the movie as in the book. I suppose they had to cut some of it out in order to make the book translatable to film. I was a little disappointed they opted to change the ending from the scene where the twin and Briony watch her play, the Trials of Arabella as she is making her final confession as the narrator of the story. Having her do it as an interview in the movie didn’t make sense to me. It didn’t add to the story.
The only big complaint I have is what they did to Lola. Lola is the cousin who is assaulted in the beginning of the novel. In the book she doesn’t seem to be malicious or at fault. Her accusations against her brothers seems plausible and when she is attacked she is frightened into submission. She tells Briony she can’t say for sure who assaulted her. In the movie they turn Lola into a little nymph who is plotting for attention through the entire piece. I didn’t like they way they changed her to create a new villain. It’s as if they did not trust the movie goers to forgive Briony in the end without giving another person to blame.
All in all I liked it. Both the book and the movie we well written and well acted out. I can see why they nominated it for so many awards. The scenes in the nurse wards and on the battle field were terrifying. It scares me with what the world is like today. I have friends going to Iraq. Friends husbands and brothers and it’s just scary. Who knows.
But, go see Atonement…. or read it. Your choice
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