It’s difficult not to relate THE GOOD SHEPHERD with THE GODFATHER II, mainly because of Francis Ford Coppola and Robert De Niro’s involvement in it. While it’s De Niro’s deft skill behind the camera directing, and Coppola’s rare once-in-a-blue-moon production management, this film echoes that of the Sicilian mob story only put in the CIA territory. This tale of one man battling between responsibility and family, with secret societies, dark missions, strange killings, concealed investigations, estranged wives, and unconsummated lives, may numb your bum as you sit through a very complex yarn of a film – but it is slow as it is assured and as labyrinthine as it is crude.


This film of 2 hours and 48 minutes is indeed slow in its narrative voice, and takes a while to fully grip on us with intrigue. Whilst wondering the depth of the film, we could simplify THE GOOD SHEPHERD as the history of the Central Intelligence Agency and how it came about, and how the life of one man turned around so suddenly that it cost his whole life and his family’s as well. Edward Wilson (a captivating performance by Matt Damon whose steeliness and composed figure may define the caricature of anti-acting) was introduced to the world of secrets when he was still young, discovering his father’s death in his study, and then joined Yale University’s famous but veiled Skull and Bones Club where the initiation takes place in mud-wrestling, reminds me of Kubrick’s disturbing EYES WIDE SHUT but without the sex orgy. Until he grows up into a fully composed gentleman but also a secret spy, being asked to spy on a teacher, he sharpens his skills on eavesdropping. This is not James Bond or Jason Bourne, not at all too flashy in demeanours, but with cinematography that blends chromatic colours and low lightings. However, Edward falls in love a deaf girl but concedes to responsibility when he impregnates the daughter of a senator, Clover (played by Angelina Jolie). The wife must pay the price for Edward’s job as he goes out to other countries for missions, leaving the wife and the son alone throughout the years. Like THE GODFATHER II, the child pays the price of the father’s decisions.


It is actually a good film, but just heavy-lidded to watch. Robert De Niro understand the whole complexity of this tale that he doesn’t want everything to be like a thriller, but consistently paves the way to drama and like a one-man stand on a very fractious world. Sometimes it could feel so long, convoluted and just filled with scenes that oftentimes feel as though disjointed – but what mainly stays after watching the film was its message and its haunting resonance to Coppola’s triumph that was THE GODFATHER II.


Matt Damon is superb, and Angelina Jolie gives a good try as the vulnerable Clover. She’s one of those wives who wanted to understand their husbands but as filled with secrecy and absence in the household, they commit to paranoia and start bitching around and cry their selves’ river upon river. There are also some good supporting performances here, especially by that of Billy Crudup’s British aristocrat and that of Michael Gambon’s professor.


There is violence and surmounting intrigue in this film but nevertheless will bore many and might inspire some. There is a sign of intricate filmmaking in De Niro’s hands as he proves capable of doing the art of direction. Coppola’s production is lavish and elite-looking (you could feel as you see the scenes unfolding). But with all its mastery and complexity, THE GOOD SHEPHERD excels as a character study but not an over-all triumph of a film that could break the Hollywood ice today. Oh, you can learn some tidbits about CIA as well.




RATING: B+