World War Two and Atonement

The second World War played a largely influential role in this novel and film  primarily because the novel and the War`s time line cross paths, secondly because Robbie the lead male character is sent to war. From the beginning the characters were all curious about the war, some thought it would happen, some thought it would`t and some were in shock when it did come. World War Two started battle in 1939 and finished 1945 VD. This war was a little more difficult for people to live through then the first because of the holocaust and Hitler, in the novel we read that Robbie is in the war and he is on the beach in Dunkirk waiting to be transferred home. The story is in so much depth that we can actually visualize being on the beach and going through it all with him. The story of war in the novel is key because it was a lifestyle that people were accustomed too. The nurses were accustomed to treating wounded soldiers everyday with limbs half blown off, just like in the film and the novel; and the soldiers got comfortable travelling everyday trying to find a safe haven. In the novel we are told a story of a soldier, and in the film we see the soldier. We are not only seeing our loved character Robbie, we are actually seeing the young men of the 1930`s and 1940`s who were actually there and lived it. When we see Briony`s character at the hospital tending to the soldiers,  it is the story of thousands of women who were there and did it in real life, not only the fictional characters. The theme of war was highly relevant in this novel and film because usually when war movies are made it is all about the battle, and the loses and victories on the field, but not the loses and victories at home and from the heart. This story gives another outlook on young people living through the war and was very realistic of the situations that happened in the war, it brings to the attention that not everything comes to a closing chapter with a happy ending.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005137&WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=10002&gclid=CIfZxKzf2aYCFQTrKgodNX5h0A

The "Atonement" House: Ancient English Archetexture

England 1935, I can only imagine how it looked. The buildings the cities and towns, having never been to England my self. Most of the ancient buildings in England still stand today, and are used as residences and office buildings. The architectural history plays a very important role in this story, in both the novel and the film. In the novel author, McEwan takes the time to make great detail about his visual of the home in which the Tallis' live. The detail about the water fountain, the pool, the vast open fields, and the rooms in the house are very key, especially when developing the scenes. I think that because McEwan played so much on this house and some of the key parts in the story take place here, it was more challenging for the director Joe Wright to find the right house for the film, luckily he did. In most films a set is built for the movie specifically, in this film majority of the first half of the story is filmed on location at an actual house in England. The story takes place in the 1930's and the latest architectural style of homes in that time would have been a part of the Jacobethan Style.Which in ways, the houses also look similar to the Victorian style home ( 1840-1900AD), the Baroque architecture style(1600-1830AD). The crew on the film were lucky to find a home that had everything described in the novel set in once place, whom ever lived in that house, when it was first built was most likely a very wealthy person. Sometimes when reading a novel the words are only words until we can visualize them. This location and the house really completes the story of Atonement because the property and all of the detail shows what wealthy people lived like in this time era, the house gives us a story of the importance of architectural growth in the mid 1800's to early 1900's.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/garden/13atonement.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobethan

Casting

In 2007 when Atonement was made Joe Wright and his crew, cast a remarkable group of actors. Kiera Knightly was cast as Cecilia, James McAvoy was cast as Robbie, Saoirse Ronan plays 13 year old Briony, Romola Garai was cast as 18 year old Briony, and Vanessa Redgrave as the oldest version of Briony, aged 77. The majority of this cast has a track record of memorable roles. Kiera Knightly has played roles from a soccer player in "Bend it Like Beckham" to chasing pirates in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" saga. She is an extremely talented actress who can make her viewers cry and smile at the same time, she was perfect for her role. Cecilia is an interesting character because she is torn between her family and her love. Kiera played the role so well, with every tear and struggle in her voice it brought Cecilia to a whole new level. The job of every actor is to play a part. However, the actors in this film went above and beyond to gain credibility of their work. For these young actors (Knightly, McAvoy, Ronan, Garia) the challenge was to get in the mindset of a young adult not only living through the war, but battling a war within themselves; they had to tell their characters stories and sell it to the audience. It was amazing to see the chemistry between McAvoy and Knightly onscreen, their performance really did give the couple from the novel justice to their relationship. Just like directer Joe Wright the actors also had to do their research on what it was like to be young during the war, and to actually be involved in the war. The three actresses that played Briony's character throughout the film had a different struggle. Each one had to learn how to play her at certain stages in her life. The character was always carrying around this guilt, but the actresses weren't. They helped define Briony's character because all three managed to transition so well and carry on from where the last one left off in their role.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-cIF0WCD2I&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viY5tffO9Q8

Directing: Joe Wright

Pride and Prejudice, The Soloist, and now Atonement can be added to the list of movies that Joe Wright is most popular for. Wright began his directing career in the mid 1990's he was however in the business for a while before taking the plunge into directing. Although he has only directed around four major films he has credited himself a highly popular reputation. In an interview Kiera Knightly "Cecilia" says that if anyone could direct such a difficult movie it would be Wright. Atonement was a difficult story to produce on the big screen because it doesn't follow one story line, and it is constantly out of focus; shifting back and forth between the time and the characters. In this project the difficulty that Joe Wright faced and progressed through was bringing his images of these characters to life, while still being respectful to McEwans original script and ideas. With this challenge Wright made a terrific film with the same ideas produced in the book, however, with his own style added to it. McEwan may have written the characters but Wright actually put them on the big screen. He spent so much time with the actors figuring out just what would work with each scene, deciding which lighting would have been best for the scene how Robbie and Cecilia should touch each other. He created a unique film. It must have been difficult to please and meet the standards of the original story but somehow his story and images really shined through. In 2008 Wright one three awards for the film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783233/awards

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0942504/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9mazJSCXXg&feature=related

Ian McEwan

Ian McEwan is a wonderful story teller who really brings his story and its characters to life. McEwan may be an author but he is also a historian, and that role in his life really came out in this novel. In the interview (link below) McEwan talks about his research process for the story. He talks about going to  the attic of an old Chapel, which is now a library, and reading up on the war. At one specific point in the interview he discusses reading letters from young women, most of them nurses, written to soldiers in battle, during war time. With the influence of these letters it truthfully transformed the novel from a story about a young couple in love in the 1930's and 1940's to a more complicated love story. Not only is the novel a story about love, but it is also about the war, the major scene in the novel when Robbie is on the beach at Dunkirk waiting to leave was clearly another influence from McEwan's research of that time period and what the war was like. Things that were popular in the time frame of the book are listed in the link below. Some things that were starting to come around to the public was the radio, hats for both men and women were a popular fashion trend which is something that can be visualized in the older female characters in the novel.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/jan/03/fiction.ianmcewan

http://www.kyrene.org/schools/brisas/sunda/decade/1930.htm#headlines

Atonement Novel: Plot Summary

In 1935 with the question and worry of a second war hanging over the world, a smaller tragedy begins to unravel. On the hottest day of the year in 1935, the main character and mastermind of the whole story, 13 year old Briony Tallis sees something that she misunderstands and misinterprets. Her older sister Cecilia Tallis is seen through a far away window strip down her clothes and jump into the fountain in the garden of their English country house, while Robbie Turner stands by to watch; from then the whole story begins to quickly unravel. After the two young friends realize that they actually have romantic feelings for one another they begin to physically react, and Briony also witnesses this; she then accuses the long time family friend of Rape.
In the next part of the novel the story then carries on to take place five years later, during the second world war. After spending time in jail Robbie is placed into the war, Cecilia is now a nurse, and Briony is training to become a nurse. In this section of the novel a different side of Briony is revealed, she is filled with guilt after realizing that she falsely accused Robbie, and now she is trying to make up for her actions. To relieve her guilt she is training to be a nurse, and through letters trying to contact her sister and Robbie to fix the mess she created.
The last part of the novel jumps far ahead to the year 2001, and Briony is now 77. She is now an established author and she has just written a novel titled "Atonment". The story "Atonement" is the story in our novel. Here it is revealed that the whole story in part two is in fact a made up version of Briony's life. In reality it goes unknown what actually happened to Robbie and Cecilia's relationship. Cecilia drowned in the flood, and Robbie dies in the war from an illness. Briony's character gives her sister and lover the happy ending they never got to have.
This story is a story inside another story.

Atonement Trailer