Review: Three lives linked by wartime atrocity come together in the painfully honest 'Atonement'

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Set us as preferred “Atonement” is a film about compassion that knows not all sympathetic characters are created equal.Inspired by Dexter Filkins’ 2012 New Yorker article about the meeting between a remorseful American soldier and the Iraqi family that was torn apart by his deadly actions, this thoughtfully balanced drama looks at three people forever changed by a 2003 firefight that killed innocent bystanders — just one such terrible incident during the Iraq war.

Writer-director Reed Van Dyk’s feature debut navigates tricky emotional waters but emerges as a trenchant examination of what forgiveness and penitence can look like, allowing no room for anything resembling a pat happy ending.In the spring of 2003, Mariam (Hiam Abbass) is with her extended family in Baghdad, all of them living with her sister since the U.S.invasion.

But once the house gets bombed, they have no choice but to drive frantically across town to her home.Meanwhile, American soldier Lou (Boyd Holbrook) and his squadron exchange fire with unseen enemy combatants.

Amid the confusion, Lou mistakenly takes aim at the family’s approaching vehicles, killing her husband and two sons.Investigating the incident, New York Times reporter Michael (Kenneth Branagh) speaks separately to a grieving Mariam and a shellshocked Lou, who expresses belligerence and bewilderment: Why would they drive right into the line of fire?The story then flashes forward more than 10 years.

Now a respected New Yorker magazine writer promoting his forthcoming book on the U.S.wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Michael is contacted by Lou, who has been flailing since returning to the States.

Living in San Diego, Lou belatedly read Michael’s piece about what took place that horrible day in 2003 and he wants to speak with Mariam, hoping that apologizing might assuage his guilt as well as his panic attacks.Michael has stayed in touch with Mariam, who has since moved t...