Atonement As A Principal Theme
These are films that directly confront the concept of atonement. In many films the concept is a mild subtext but to make this list it has to be the dominate motivation or climatic moment.
Atonement typically includes an act (or acts) of redemption but there are acts of redemption that have nothing to do with guilt or atonement and those are not what this list is about.
Atonement typically includes an act (or acts) of redemption but there are acts of redemption that have nothing to do with guilt or atonement and those are not what this list is about.
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- DirectorJoe WrightStarsKeira KnightleyJames McAvoyBrenda BlethynThirteen-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.While obvious from the title the theme aggressively dominates the entire narrative.
- DirectorPeter NewbrookStarsRobert PowellRobert StephensJane LapotaireEnglish country squire Sir Hugo Cunningham searches for immortality by literally 'bottling up' the Spirit of the Dead, or Asphyx.This is a story of multiple ironies. Sir Hugo is portrayed as a good man who gets a little carried away with his hobbies, with disastrous consequences for everyone he loves. He chooses to atone for this by fashioning an ironic eternal punishment for himself.
- DirectorMikhail KalatozovStarsSean ConneryPeter FinchClaudia CardinaleTorn by personal guilt, Italian General Umberto Nobile reminisces about his failed 1928 Arctic expedition aboard the airship Italia.The general finds it necessary to atone for being presumptuous and reaching too far. Torturing himself with nightly imaginary trials litigating the choices he made during the expedition.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsWilliam HoldenAlec GuinnessJack HawkinsBritish POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it.The obvious one is Colonel Nicholson's "What have I done" realization and his effort to undue what he had come to believe was the most significant achievement of his life.
Less obvious is Shear's realization midway through the mission that he had skated through the war and his resulting acts of heroism. - DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMatthew ModineR. Lee ErmeyVincent D'OnofrioA pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.Joker has had to subordinate his basic humanity to survive, which greatly troubles his conscience. His atonement is to step up and take on a responsibility that everyone else is dodging, one that he knows will haunt him for the rest of his life.
- DirectorVadim PerelmanStarsUma ThurmanEvan Rachel WoodEva AmurriA woman's survivor's guilt from a Columbine-like event 15 years ago causes her present-day idyllic life to fall apart.This is a unique one, worth checking out - more details at this point would be a spoiler.
- DirectorBill PurpleStarsJason SudeikisMaisie WilliamsJessica BielJason Sudeikis stars as a widowed New Orleans architect who strikes up an unlikely relationship with teenage runaway Maisie Williams.More survivor's guilt as the two main characters have been left behind by the most significant person in their lives. Eventually they decide on a bold project which will open them up to new experiences, living in the moment as a way to not waste their lives.
- DirectorChristopher SmithStarsMelissa GeorgeJoshua McIvorJack TaylorFive friends set sail and their yacht is overturned by a strange and sudden storm. A mysterious ship arrives to rescue them, and what happens next cannot be explained.A mother seemingly loses it and in a fit of temper accidentally kills her young autistic son. She makes a bargain with death for the chance to go back and prevent this. Then she tries to cheat death.
- DirectorFrank PerrySydney PollackStarsBurt LancasterJanet LandgardJanice RuleA man spends a summer day swimming as many pools as he can all over a quiet suburban town.Deeply guilty about his role in the break-up of his family, Ned concocts a wild scheme of wishful thinking to restore the past.
- DirectorM. CahillStarsMichael DouglasEvan Rachel WoodWillis Burks IIAn unstable dad who after getting out of a mental institution tries to convince his daughter that there's Spanish gold buried somewhere under suburbia.Regrets about his wasted life and his failure as a father leave Charlie grasping at a wild scheme which will provide for his daughter's financial future and validate his existence.
- DirectorJordan ScottStarsEva GreenJuno TempleMaría ValverdeA look at the lives and relationships among girls at an elite boarding school.The death of her friend Fiamma inspires Di to alter her life and live for Fiamma instead.
- DirectorM. Night ShyamalanStarsBruce WillisHaley Joel OsmentToni ColletteMalcolm Crowe, a child psychologist, starts treating a young boy, Cole, who encounters dead people and convinces him to help them. In turn, Cole helps Malcolm reconcile with his estranged wife.Detailed comments would spoil the story but atonement is the driver of the story.
- DirectorDick RichardsStarsGary GrimesBilly Green BushLuke AskewYoung farmboy who always wanted to be a cowhand talks a tough trail boss into hiring him on a cattle drive.Saves its atonement moment for the climatic ending.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsRobert MitchumTrevor HowardJohn MillsSet in the wake of the 1916 Easter Rising, a married woman in a small Irish village has an affair with a troubled British officer.Captain: Aye. Well, I'll find out soon enough. I'm a coward, you see. No, I always have been - from being a lad. I can't master it. Well, I don't suppose I've tried, really. I'd give my left arm to have a touch of what you've got. I hate it! Just the bloody thought of it gives me the shakes. In fact, that's my nightmare, the shakes. I don't mind dying - not if it's quick. Life's not that much, is it? I wouldn't mind having a gammy leg, like you've got - though I don't suppose it's funny. But the shakes? Shellshock? Just shaking and shambling like a... epileptic baby? Nay, I'd rather be dead! I can see what's coming - I'm going to disgrace myself...
Randolph Doryan: You don't know what you'll do. No one does - you don't know what you're doing?
Captain: Really? I read what you did in the newspapers. That weren't no flash in the pan - you'd do the same again, I dare say.
Randolph Doryan: You'd be wrong.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsKirk DouglasEleanor ParkerWilliam BendixOn one day in the 21st Precinct squad room, assorted characters form a backdrop for the troubles of hard-nosed Detective Jim McLeod.Let's not spoil it.
- CreatorLeslie StevensStarsBob JohnsonBen WrightWilliam DouglasAn anthology series of insightful science fiction tales.1965 Second Chance (1964) - Empyian
The series was familiar with the atonement concept as most episodes were morality tales. But atonement is central in "Second Chance" as a cross section of troubled people are offered a chance to save the world and in doing so redeem their lives. - DirectorRobert AltmanStarsWarren BeattyJulie ChristieRene AuberjonoisA gambler and a prostitute become business partners in a remote Old West mining town, and their enterprise thrives until a large corporation arrives on the scene.Atonement was rarely an ingredient in Altman's films but it is central to this story.
- DirectorPhil Alden RobinsonStarsKevin CostnerJames Earl JonesRay LiottaIowa farmer Ray Kinsella is inspired by a voice he can't ignore to pursue a dream he can hardly believe. Supported by his wife, Ray begins the quest by turning his ordinary cornfield into a place where dreams can come true.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsSpencer TracyFrank SinatraKerwin MathewsA crusty, eccentric priest recruits three reluctant convicts to help him rescue a children's leper colony from a Pacific island menaced by a smoldering volcano.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsYves MontandCharles VanelPeter van EyckIn a decrepit South American village, four men are hired to transport an urgent nitroglycerine shipment without the equipment that would make it safe.