lions for lambs

i feel a little bit better about this film after reading a couple of reviews
better in that i came out of it not sure what i was supposed to be feeling
thought i had missed the point or some crucial bit of dialogue
i think i had very high expectations that were not fulfilled
i'd seen robert redford interviewed and talking about the importance of this film
also a snippet of meryl streep expressing her enthusiasm
i'd forgotten tom cruise was also a lead character
but maybe just as well as that may have counted against it
there are basically 3 threads to the film
tom cruise is a high-level republican senator trying to sell the next military move
to a sceptical and influential reporter played by meryl streep
in the meantime the military operation is underway in afghanistan
central to the operation are 2 soldiers who have volunteered to make a difference
the third thread involves robert redford as a university professor
who had previously taught the 2 soldiers now trapped in afghanistan
and now is trying to rev up a brilliant but disaffected student
the film is evenly split for the most between the 3 situations
so we witness a very convincing senator arguing the neo-cons case
while seeing a high-tech military operation failing against the unseen enemy
and the liberal professor arguing that effectively apathy is not an option
the one-on-one scenes are done very well
i've not seen a lot of him lately but tom cruise is excellent
i hope it was his acting skills and not his beliefs that made for that
meryl streep questions, debates, responds, reacts very naturally
and similarly robert redford comes across very well as the sage
but in a way i suspect as the director he has messed up a little
rather than desist totally from props and action
or go all the way with very convincing effects
particularly for the mountaintop scene in afghanistan
he has instead included a fairly badly portrayed situation
and lays on the nationalism and soldier as hero stuff quite heavily
i had no idea really how long the film was supposed to run for
but at the point where it was all set up and things were getting interesting
bang - end of film - finish - gotcha - no answers you see
almost an admission that this whole war on terrorism is beyond figuring
the best we can do is show the world by film how confused we all are
and maybe that is the point of the film
so mission accomplished in my case