Ten Men and a Movie: The Good Shepherd

We caught "The Good Shepherd" this weekend while vacationing on Cape Cod. We attended the 3:30 PM showing on New Year's Eve, a much better option than the "Chatham First Night: The 50's thru the Centuries" celebration that was going on all around us. Curiously, we were joined by the only Chatham residents who actually remember the 50s; the theater was wall-to-wall with blue hairs and elderly folks, settling down to watch a ripping cold war spy thriller. (As we are now much closer to 2010 then we are to the year 2000, it occurs to us that WW II is as remote to a 20 year old today as the Civil War was to us when we were 20. This bothers us, but we digress…) This provided us with our Number 5 Funniest Movie Theater Incident of All Time: 45 minutes into the movie, we hear this from the back row, loud enuff to be overheard in all but the biggest Bingo halls:

"DOES ANYONE ELSE FIND THIS TO BE CONFUSING?"

To someone who’s not paying close attention, the Good Shepherd can be confusing. One of those movies that rewards close attention. After the film, we spent a good 20 minutes trying to figure out how some of the pieces fit. (note: be sure to remember the scene involving the 'Cardinal' at the beginning. It becomes important 2 hours and 45 minutes later.) It jumps around in time- the Bay of Pigs invasion, then 1939, then 1945, back to 1961, and so on. In between, they sprinkle little clues that will have huge implications later on, and Russian names are thrown at you with no regard for your safety.

Good shepherd tells the tale of one of the founding members of the CIA, from his recruitment into the Skull and Bones in 1939 to what happens in the weeks following the Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba. In between, he becomes a deadly efficient counterintelligence officer, but not without cost. The movie spends a lot of time on his private life (or lack thereof.) We liked it. Almost 3 hours long, but worth it.

Remember that scene in Good Will Hunting when Matt Damon's character interviewed for a job with the NSA? This is the story of what would have happened if Will Hunting prepped at Phillips Academy instead of Southie High. The NY Times tells us

"(Damon's character) seems largely based on the fascinating, freakishly paranoid James Jesus Angleton, a Yale graduate and poetry lover who served in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II and ran CIA. counterintelligence from 1954 to 1974. Mr. Angleton cultivated orchids; Wilson builds the more prosaically symbolic miniature ships in bottles."

Some more observations:

• Matt Damon did a good job. Hewas understated throughout the entire movie; we're sure this is a lot harder than it looks.

• It was an ugly movie. Characters meet all sorts of terrible ends.

• All the names were changed to protect the guilty, but history buffs will have fun guessing who the real-life counterparts were for each of the characters. (We think the guy who, um, went R. Kelley on Matt Damon's character is supposed to be George Bush. Whether its true or not, its fun to imagine) Wikipedia gives a good breakdown of the real-life story behind the movie.

• We're not sold on DeNiro's role as the founder of the OSS who showed up from time to time to give short speeches and warn Damon about what would happen next.

• The guy they cast as the grown up son of Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie looks EXACTLY like what you’d expect their spawn to look like.

• He's also the gayest, most effete-looking thing to walk on screen in a long time, so it was tough to buy one of the key plot points. Suspension of disbelief was required.

We recommend it, but be warned. This is no Casino Royale.