‘Atonement’ review: Kenneth Branagh impresses quietly

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“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 to Glendale, but he is unsure if she will have any desire to talk to the man who massacred her family members.

Van Dyk received an Oscar nomination for his 2017 live-action short “DeKalb Elementary,” which similarly explored gun violence through the prism of actual events — in that case, a school shooting. “Atonement” weighs the emotional fallout that a fatal altercation had on a mother, a soldier and a journalist, but it’s to Van Dyk’s immense credit — as well as his actors’ — that his film shows tenderness to all of them.

Each lead role presents challenges that are gracefully overcome. If Mariam is the film’s heartbreaking figure, Abbass brings complexity to the character, never letting her be a saintly victim. Instead, Abbass plays her as a woman who, since the attack, has learned to make her face a stony mask. At one point, Mariam announces flatly, with a hint of resentment, “We’ve cried out all our tears. We have none left.” It’s both an explanation for her withdrawn demeanor and an indication of the permanent numbing that has enveloped her.

As for Holbrook, he portrays a painfully ordinary U.S. soldier — the kind who impetuously signed up in response to 9/11 — while pushing against reductive stereotypes. Smart but emotionally inarticulate and a bit obtuse, Lou is devastated by what he’s done. But Holbrook’s ambiguous turn leaves us uncertain how much his act of contrition is meant to make himself feel better, as opposed to helping Mariam and her family heal. Lou is genuinely sorry but the movie asks if he could possibly ever be sorry enough.

Ostensibly the least affected by the incident (if anything, the firefight made his reputation), Michael nevertheless has been hollowed out by years of covering war. Some of “Atonement’s” most poignant moments occur when Michael is alone, his professional, somewhat distant manner suddenly giving way to an emptiness washing over him. A man without family or even a home, Michael lives vicariously through the atrocities he covers and Branagh’s spare performance suggests the possibility that he has partly brokered this meeting because it will lead to another great story. After all, what else does he have?

Van Dyk chronicles these lives with a modesty that runs counter to the script’s potentially melodramatic setup. But like Mariam, “Atonement” has no interest in tears, although it’s impossible not to be moved by the film’s messy, dignified humanity. It can be tempting to describe these well-meaning characters as everyday people trying to do their best. Van Dyk has too much respect to view them so simplistically. “Atonement” wants you to do more than sympathize with them, preferring we understand the varying degrees of guilt, sorrow and anger that have led Mariam, Lou and Michael to this fraught reunion. The ending is so understated yet so piercing that it may take days to process how deftly it encapsulates the shared tragedy that, decades later, still ensnares them all.