THE GOOD SHEPHERD

-"We Catholics got the church. The Irish got their pubs. Hell, even the niggers got their music. What do you got?"
-"I've got The United States of America. The rest of you are just visiting."

It is no coincidence that THE GOOD SHEPHERD and THE GODFATHER PART II share so much in common in terms of themes and structure. The latter made Robert De Niro a star in the mid-70s, earning him an Oscar and establishing him as one of the best method actors of all-time. The film is about the implosive nature of a man (Al Pacino's Michael Corleone) who watches his dreams and his family's innocence crumble before him, all because of his job.

In THE GOOD SHEPHERD, De Niro's second film as a director, Matt Damon plays Edward Wilson. Wilson is recruited by Sam Murach (Alec Baldwin) and General Bill Sullivan (De Niro) out of Yale during WWII to work for them in a new foreign intelligence service, what would later become the CIA. De Niro and Baldwin's characters are really bit parts, but they are interesting and leave a lasting impression. Both have at least given up their bodies for their duties, Murach from smoking (it keeps the stress of the job away for at least a second) and a wound that Allen received during the line of duty restricts him to a wheelchair, his feet corroding.

Early on, Wilson falls hard and fast for a deaf colleague named Laura (Tammy Blanchard) from Yale, who understands and can relate to him being a man of action, not words. To his dismay though, a seductress sister of a friend (Angelina Jolie) overpowers him one night at a work-related party, and he impregnates her, only weeks before heading out to what will turn out to be a six-year tour in Europe. Again, he sacrifices what he loves and believes in for his country (this example may be a stretch, but I felt it was still realistic).

As complex as the film is, it isn't too difficult to keep up with, unlike Damon's 2005 film SYRIANA, which deconstructed the oil industry. This is a fascinating and absorbing look into the cold world of spying, where double-crossings are normal and no one is trustable. The more and more Wilson is exposed to and in control of the violence and dark dealings of the information industry, the more of his soul he sacrifices.

One of the most interesting relationships of the film is that between Wilson and his son Edward Jr., played by Eddie Redmayne as a young adult and as a child by Tommy Nelson. Edward returns from Europe when his child is six years old, seeing him for the first time. He returns an even more bitter, cold, and implosive man than before. He is only in his mid-twenties, too. He has seen death, corruption, and has cheated on his wife he barely knows. He doesn't really have much to live for, but doesn't really have anyone to tell who will listen. Edward Jr. represents a light at the end of the tunnel for him, an uncorrupted boy who still has a world of options. It is a tragedy to Edward Sr. and the audience that the son chooses to follow the same road his father did, a road toward spydom, and eventual self-torture.

If I were to describe THE GOOD SHEPHERD in one word, it would be "deep". It is a moving account of a troubled man. De Niro directs it with solemn respect, usually a negative term. Believe me when I say it, I mean it positively here. This is a tragic film about a tragic, cold character, yet it is always absorbing throughout its 160-minute running time. It also plays as a complex film about the in-and-outs of the early days of the CIA, and is filled with terrific performances (woah, Joe Pesci!) and superb cinematography, evoking a dark period in world history.

A