Normally I don’t bother to write about a movie I really don’t like and can’t even finish watching. That’s what happened to me with Atonement, not once, but TWICE.

Do you know what atonement means? I didn’t, and I had to look it up: reparation for an offense or injury. I looked it up last Friday, when I tried to watch the movie, and I forgot the definition again, so I just looked it up now once more, so I could write it here.

The story plays just before and then in World War II in England. The main character grows up surrounded by the upper class but himself only the son of a servant. He is wronged by one of the girls in the house, and the movie is about their lives. That’s all I can tell you, because I just couldn’t sit there long enough trying to focus on this hard to understand, drawn out, boring and pointless story.

This movie has the dubious distinction that I abandoned it twice. I had forgotten about the first time. We must have rented it once and promptly forgotten all about it. When I started watching it again now, I recognized some scenes and realized I had tried once before and given up. So this time I gave it more effort. But lost it again. I left the room for 10 minutes or more at a time, and I felt like I didn’t miss anything, and I really never cared abouut any of the characters.

So why would I write about it here? Because I just noticed that it was directed by Joe Wright, the director of the movie The Soloist that I just saw today.

I loved the Soloist. Ebert blasted it. I hated Atonement. Ebert loved it.

Rating: *