Der Gute Hirte
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Robert De NiroDrehbuch:
Eric RothKamera:
Robert RichardsonBesetzung:
Matt Damon, Robert De Niro, Angelina Jolie, Joe Pesci, Eddie Redmayne, Tammy Blanchard, Alec Baldwin, Billy Crudup, Keir Dullea, Michael Gambon (mehr)Inhalte(1)
Der Film erzählt die Geschichte der ersten 40 Jahre des amerikanischen Geheimdienstes CIA und wirft dabei auch einen Schwerpunkt auf das Familienleben des Agentenchefs James Wilson. Edward Wilson ist ein Patriot, der den Wert von Geheimhaltung kennt und mit Begriffen wie “Diskretion” und “Ehre” aufgewachsen ist. Als strebsamer Student in Yale trat er 1939 der “Skull and Bones Society” bei, einer geheimen Bruderschaft, die künftige Führungskräfte für die Politik rekrutieren will. Sein scharfer Verstand, seine einwandfreie Reputation sowie sein tiefer Glaube an die amerikanischen Werte machen Wilson zum idealen Kandidaten für eine Geheimdienstkarriere. Der idealistische junge Mann wird vom Office of Strategic Services (OSS) rekrutiert, dem Vorläufer der CIA während des Zweiten Weltkriegs. Diese Entscheidung wird nicht nur sein weiteres Leben verändern, sondern bestimmt bis heute die geopolitische Lage: Wilson und seine Mitarbeiter gründeten den mächtigsten Geheimdienst der Welt. Als einer der Gründungsväter der CIA arbeitet Wilson in einer Welt, in der Täuschung zum Alltag gehört und nichts so ist, wie es scheint. Sein Idealismus weicht bald einem dauerhaften Misstrauen, der in der langjährigen Paranoia des Kalten Krieges seine Entsprechung findet. Wilson wird zum führenden Mitarbeiter der CIA, seine Methoden werden zum Standard des Geheimdienstes. Wie in einem globalen Schachspiel will Wilson seine Gegenspieler des KGB schlagen. Für den bedingungslosen Einsatz für sein Land zahlt Wilson einen zunehmend höheren Preis. Auch die wachsenden Bedenken seiner Frau Margaret “Clover” und seines geliebten Sohnes können Wilson von seinem Weg abbringen – der ihn schließlich dazu führen wird, alles für seinen Beruf zu opfern. (Verleiher-Text)
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The Good Shepherd is the perfect opposite of purely entertaining series like James Bond or Mission Impossible, which are action-packed and dynamic films. It is such a strong denial of established genre schemes that it must outrage the average genre fan, who will use expressions like boring, tiresome, and unengaging to describe the film. Not a single shootout or fistfight appears in this spy movie. Nevertheless, it is full of internal tension, great acting performances, and very clever dialogues. Matt Damon portrays his agent as the opposite of his most famous film character - Jason Bourne. His character Edward Wilson is an inconspicuous bureaucrat in the government services, without dazzling charisma, who earned his career in the Secret Service through his intelligence and analytical ability. Thanks to his character, the viewer incidentally learns about the circumstances of the CIA's origin and its most significant victories and defeats. A very powerful and complex film without notable weaknesses, which most likely comes very close to the reality of secret service work. The only thing that bothered me was Angelina Jolie in the role of the wife, as her glamorous face didn't suit this film. Overall impression: 90%.
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Robert De Niro has created a kind of smaller saga, somewhat following the example of F. F. Coppola, but he couldn't create characters interesting enough to watch the whole movie without enjoying it. I have to admit that I suffered through the length of the film and there was nothing really substantial here that truly amazed me, nothing that would make me connect with the movie.
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Nobody disputes that Robert De Niro is a great actor; but there is some doubt in my mind about his being a great director. He proved himself in A Bronx Tale, but that could have been just beginner’s luck. But he didn’t confirm his talent in his second movie, The Score. But now, eight years after his debut there is no even the slightest doubt. He chose interesting and attractive subject matter, brought in lots of outstanding actors and made an almost faultless picture. OK, he has a slightly old-fashioned way of storytelling and the pace is pretty darn peculiar, but if you manage to get on his wavelength then The Good Shepherd will totally engross you. The one blemish on its beauty is perhaps the way that the characters just don’t age over the entire twenty-five years that the movie covers. One of the movie high points of last year and a movie that will achieve deserved recognition sooner or later. Because this is a good piece of craftsmanship that he put not just his talent but his heart into. In other words, something that unfortunately we do not see too often in movies today.
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My favorite, the ridiculously slick hairstyle of Matt Damon, a boring execution and an unnecessarily convoluted script. After five minutes, you have no doubt that you will never watch this film again, there isn’t a single reason for it. It is a directorial attempt that is somewhat poorly managed and pretentiously portrayed, and very cold. And even though Angelina Jolie tries to dilute this wooden story with all her might, it is still not enough. Damon is irritating, De Niro is there for a few minutes, and Pesci for a few seconds. The plot unfolds slowly, and what can be said in five minutes, director De Niro tells in thirty-five. This is no enjoyable old-school entertainment at all.
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Robert De Niro as director plus actor in a minor role in a film based on true events that describes the creation of the CIA. Matt Damon as a spy in one of his better roles, who in this case is forced to make a strict choice between love and loyalty to the US government. There’s a certain patriotism present, of course; the characters are certainly boilerplate and very easy to identify as archetypes. On the other hand, de Niro's style reminded me in some ways of Clint Eastwood (which I consider a plus); the slow narrative has something to it (although I must admit that at about two points it felt a bit assembled). Nothing new under the sun, nothing groundbreaking, but still a piece of honest filmmaking topped off by the excellent Damon.
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