Lions for Lambs (2007)

 

          “Lions for Lambs” is a contemporary war movie about the war in Afghanistan.  Screenwriter Matthew Carnahan was inspired to write it while channel-surfing and running across a news report about an IED incident that contrasted with the latest Access Hollywood report.  The character Todd Hayes was based on him.  It was the first film by United Artists after Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner took control.  Cruise insisted on Robert Redford starring and directing because he was a big admirer.  Redford was attracted by the liberal tone of the script.  I imagine he thought this movie would be the tipping point for America.

                        The movie has an interesting structure.  There are three interconnected threads.  A conservative senator named Irving (Cruise) is hoping to get elected President by coming up with a winning strategy in Afghanistan.  His strategy involves dropping small units to occupy strategic sites in the country to deprive the Taliban of the high ground.  He has an interview with a journalist named Janine Roth (Meryl Streep) who suspects she is being used for political reasons.  Meanwhile, bleeding-heart Professor Malley (Redford) is trying to get through to Todd Hayes (Andrew Garfield), a talented slacker student.  Hayes is a cynic who doesn’t think he can make a difference.  Malley tells him the story of two students who were inspired to make a difference by joining the military.  Rodriguez (Michael Pena) and Finch (Derek Luke) become cogs in Irving’s strategy by being dropped onto a hilltop.  Actually, Rodriguez does a Blackburn from “Black Hawk Down” and Finch jumps after him, setting up a rescue mission scenario.  The Rodriguez/Finch arc is intercut with Malley/Hayes discussing politics.    Meanwhile, the unrelated Roth/Irving story pops up like it’s in a different movie.

                        “Lions for Lambs” is a misfire.  The cast cannot overcome the flaws in the script.  This starts with the title.  It has been argued the title comes from a quote referring to British soldiers in the Battle of the Somme (in which case it makes no sense because Gen. Haig could hardly be called a lamb).  More likely, the title was a poor attempt to paraphrase the famous “lions led by donkeys” line.  The three threads approach, while creative, does not work because none of the threads is strong.  Roth/Irving has two great actors playing characters out of a high school play about politics versus the press.  They are both caricatures.  Cruise channels his Oprah coach-jumping enthusiasm for his ridiculous “parachute Custer into the Indian village” strategy.  Rodriguez/Finch is the most interesting for war movie fans, but also the most frustrating.  The occasional trips to their last stand are brief and the cut-aways are jarring and frustrating.  These scenes are done small scale as though they are an afterthought.  But the worst thread is the Malley/Hayes one.  It should have ended up on the cutting room floor, but then there would have been no Redford.  He did not have to act and direct at the same time as he is basically playing himself.  Malley is preachy, pompous, and so liberal he could be a meme featured on a conservative web site.   The film is anything but subtle.  Irving has a portrait of George W. Bush in his office.  Roth drives by Arlington National Cemetery.

                        It is clear the movie had an agenda.  It wants to make up for the press not doing its job in telling the public about what was wrong in Afghanistan.  In the process, it sticks a dagger in the back of the press by pointing out that journalism is dying.  It implies that the future is dependent on the next generation stepping up, but at the same time the two characters who step up are the lions of the title.  This is a not an optimistic movie.  It is more interested in showing what chumps Americans are.  It’s no surprise it did poorly at the box office.  Conservatives would have avoided it as typical Hollywood liberal propaganda and liberals would have found it pandering.  You might enjoy it if you are on the speech and debate team because this movie has TWO debates going on.  Yawn.

GRADE  =  D