Lions for Lambs (2007)

This is easily a film that will come under fire for having something to say, but what is the alternative? Making a film that has nothing to say? That seems to be the norm nowadays as the box office grosses of the terrible trio of threequels demonstrates. Lions for lambs reminds me of a time when Directors had greater ambitions than to make a huge opening weekend before people realize their film is garbage (Transformers, Pirates, etc...but being saturated with these types of films for so long I doubt many remember what film can be, and accomplish.) Robert Redford strikes me as someone who wants to make a difference and the problem is that the audience has become more deaf to reason than ever.

Lions for Lambs is more of a filmed essay than a narrative feature, and being a Kubrick fan, I am all for changing the classic form of Hollywood narrative structure. This is a film based around ideas, and exploring them to raise awareness that our own apathy will lead to our undoing as Americans. Let me invoke Batman Begins "People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy"...etc. So people won't get off their posteriors and respond to the chaos around them, perhaps because there seems to be no direct connection to the news, or as this film so brilliantly points out: we change the channel. This film is a dramatic example of where we're going as a nation and what we're becoming as a people. I doubt anyone will listen but I applaud the filmmakers for at least making an attempt.

This film presents the facts pretty much up to the minute, from many angles, and yes even the Republicans get a sympathetic view of their strategy. Whose fault is it that the economy is in a downward spiral? It's all too easy to point the finger at the Bush administration and leave it at that, but what about the media? The corporations that own the media that favor news as entertainment rather than news as information by which to empower the people via knowledge? What about the public themselves? V for Vendetta, another film centered around powerful ideas that didn't have nearly the impact it should have, said "People shouldn't be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people."

Has the public become so passive that they just ignore the big issues whenever confronted by them? This film suggests that and much more, but more importantly the film asks: What are you going to do about it?

Fmovies: Redford, as Professor Stephen Malley, tries to motivate the intelligent, liberal minded, but apathetic student, Todd Hayes, played by Andrew Garfield, and in doing so teaches us all why, 'failing to try,' is much worse than, 'to have tried and failed.' This message is supported by two parallel stories that show just how difficult trying to make the right decision in real life can be.

In one story, reporter Janine Roth, played by Meryl Streep, is burdened with the decision and repercussions of whether to publish propaganda fed to her by a hawkish architect of a new Afghan offensive, Senator Jasper Irving, played by Tom Cruise.

In the other story, we watch as two students from an impoverished neighborhood make the risky choice between going to an elite graduate school, taking on more debt and pursuing a high paying career to pay it down, or enlisting in the military to fight in the middle east so that upon their return, their experience will allow their voices to be heard, the government will pay for their graduate education, and they can pursue a career that will allow them to make a difference.

In this timely and topical film, Redford expertly shows us just how difficult, but important, doing the right thing is, and reminds us that by deciding to do nothing, we are actually making the decision to let the other side call all the shots.

The words that become a catch phrase tend to confuse rather than clarify. They all say this, we all know that, when in fact, truth is always the simplest if not the easiest of answers. Here Robert Redford is not trying to be Oliver Stone. No, he remains Robert Redford in his handsome rugged way asking us to think without ever even asking it. He provokes the question in a situation that we all seem to have taken sides. I admired the seriousness of the intention here. Meryl Streep is terrific interviewing an inedited Tom Cruise - All the recent gossip about Cruise made his Senator even more sinister. Redford, the all American guy, guides according his own coordinates but doesn't preach. He just tells us. Well done!

Lions for Lambs fmovies. The Seventh movie direction of Bob Redford, Lions for Lambs is a movie about conscience and the effects of politics and the government in society, it also touches several aspects of the American society, such as student issues, the manipulation of media for political propaganda ends.

It also invites the viewer to reflect on very important ethical and moral issues of modern society.

Great Cast and good direction but I think the most important part of this movie it's the message but as I said before, you'll either loath it or think about it.

LIONS FOR LAMBS is a very intelligent and timely film that addresses what we are doing in Afghanistan and our American policy in handling the issues of the Middle East played out via tremendous performances from Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise and Robert Redford, with a strong cast of supporting actors. Watching Meryl Streep as a Journalist interact with Tom Cruise on the screen and the strong dialog that plays between them is a wonderful piece of writing from Matthew Michael Carnahan as they discuss the issues of winning the war in Afghanistan. And, as I am reading THE RACE from Richard North Patterson, seeing the Tom Cruise character play to a Journalist to get his story out is another act of political positioning.

Robert Redford as the Professor and his student, Mr. SC frat boy, discuss what he should do with his life, and hearing about the story of his two students who came before him, plays out perfectly with what is important to accomplish in America today as a young man and woman. The last scene in the film with the young man really questioning his career path is a great one. LIONS FOR LAMBS deserves a large audience, but it may play out as just another political story dealing with Afghanistan and Iraq, and it really deserves the attention and the lessons which the film delivers. As we approach Veterans Day 2007, I will remember the scenes in the Afghan mountains and think of our men and women in uniform attempt to win a war of justice...or, in the end, will they be just LAMBS FOR LIONS?

Not true! Robert Redford didn't take to the pulpit to give us a pet talk. He's far too subtle, honest and compassionate to pull a stunt like that. The film is about questions not about answers and we're all grateful for that. I left the theater with a weight on my chest because I believe in the validity of the questions and the individual responsibility of finding the fair way to the answers. Important to remember, at least it was for me, that this is a film delivered to us by three icons. Robert Redford, a symbol of consistency and independence, Meryl Streep, an actress who defined the last two decades of film acting with characters that went straight to the center of something and Tom Cruise, the box office champion who's become a controversial figure despite of his undeniable humanity. I will take a stand here and advise you to go and see this film. You will come up with new questions and a potential road map for the answers.