The Good Shepherd Review
by Mark R. Leeper (mleeper AT optonline DOT net)December 28th, 2006
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Robert De Niro directs a near-epic-film of near-epic-length that nearly works. The subject is the origins and early days of the United States
intelligence community. Mark Damon stars as a
patrician but lackluster character who is willing to give up his family life and his soul for the sake of his intelligence job. In style and in pedigree this film is closely related to the "Godfather" films.
Rating: +2 (-4 to +4) or 7/10
Borrowing much from the "Godfather" films, THE GOOD SHEPHERD is instead about the machinations and the wheels within wheels in the intelligence community. The film's structure is almost as complex as its subject matter. It follows four threads of time and we switch back and forth among for the course of this 168-minute film. We start with a CSI-like investigation of a fuzzy piece of film the CIA has been given. With the ultra- sophisticated techniques of the CIA, some amazing information can be gleaned from the unpromising connect-the-dots filmstrip. This piece of film is connected in some way with the infamous Bay of Pigs invasion. That is one thread of time. The second thread of plot follows events before, during, and after the invasion. Running the Bay of Pigs show at the CIA is veteran intelligence analyst Ed Wilson (played by Mark Damon).
Ed Wilson is actually not nearly as flamboyant as his name is. He comes off as a dry man lacking in any personality. Even his clothing seems to overpower him and that is just a suit, a raincoat, a hat, and a pair of glasses. The third thread of time follows the career of this Ed Wilson from his induction into Yale's Skull and Bones Society to his tenure as the chief of the Central Intelligence Agency, an organization that he helped found. Even this third thread has a flashback so that we can see some of Wilson's relationship with his father. In spite of his unprepossessing ways, Wilson has a razor-sharp intellect. In this thread he is recruited at Yale to spy on one of his favorite professors (played by the ever-excellent Michael Gambon), who it is feared may be a security risk. Once into the intelligence game, it is hard to get out. (Can this be an echo of THE GODFATHER's Michael Corleone?) Though Wilson has one girl friend, he dates a Senator's daughter, Clover (Angelina Jolie), and gets her pregnant. He marries her without any emotional investment, and then heads off for Europe to work for the Office of Strategic Services for the course of World War II. Clover and their son are all but abandoned by Wilson.
Wilson proves to have an illustrious career in intelligence and a disastrous married life. Like Michael Corleone, he gives his soul for his work at the expense of his family. He does not get to know his son until the son grows up and even there his relationship is stilted. His one concession to humanity is a very revealing hobby. He likes to create boats in bottles, putting intricacy where it should be most difficult to place. The script rarely gives any emotion to the humorless Wilson and leaves his thoughts a matter of conjecture. The viewer must judge this colorless man by what he does rather than how he reacts.
Over time we see Wilson as a young man who spies only out of patriotic fervor seduced into playing the game for its own sake. Wilson transforms from idealistic to completely amoral. He is all too willing to sacrifice his soul and his family life for his job. Toward the end that job is played against his opposite number, the enigmatic Soviet spymaster Ulysses. The more he is pulled into the game, the more of his private life he must wager on the game and the more he finds that Ulysses is several steps ahead of him.
There are two hours of buildup before the plot gets going. The real story of the film is told in perhaps the last three-quarters of an hour. Then the boundaries between Wilson's professional problems and his personal problems begin to break down and each starts to leak into the other. While the rest of the film adds texture and builds up the characters it is only in the final reel that the real emotional action takes place and what has led up to that time begins to pay off. Whether this is too little payoff too late after too much build time will depend on the viewer's interest in the dark world of government intelligence gathering.
Director Robert De Niro has had a long-standing interest in the real world of spies and the intelligence community. THE GOOD SHEPHERD is loosely based on the career of James Jesus Angleton, who rose to be the Chief of Staff of the Central Intelligence Agency. De Niro himself, looking a little like Henry Kissinger, has a small role as General Bill Sullivan (who was instrumental in setting up the OSS and CIA). Sullivan's charter is to make an organization that is the "eyes and ears" of the country "but not heart and soul." We never find out if he believes that both goals were accomplished, but the relevance to the present is obvious.
This is a difficult film to watch for multiple reasons. Perhaps to complement the theme the film is visually dark. It is as dark in look as it is in tone. Much of the film is shot in under-lit sets and with a subdued color palette. Where the period detail can be seen it seems good, but much of that two is concealed in the dark.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD is very much about the real espionage, and that is intriguing. CASINO ROYALE is a lot more fun, but this film has more of a feel of authenticity. Director Robert De Niro may know some first-rate directors, but he is not really one yet himself. Some popular actors like Clint Eastwood and Robert Redford make very good directors. Some like Mel Gibson are better in front of the camera than behind. Robert De Niro probably falls in the latter category. I rate THE GOOD SHEPHERD a very acceptable but still disappointing +2 on the -4 to +4 scale or 7/10. Some viewers will want to be aware that this film shows some fairly graphic violence and in particular a sequence of torture.
Mark R. Leeper
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Copyright 2006 Mark R. Leeper
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