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Lions for Lambs

Indoctrination over drama

By PETER KEOUGH | November 7, 2007

1.5 Stars

VIDEO: Watch the trailer for Lions for Lambs.

Just because the debate over Iraq isn’t taking place anywhere else doesn’t mean you should put it in a movie. Robert Redford’s latest abandons the pleasures of narrative altogether for the urgency of the message. How do you like your speechifying? The pedantic style, with Professor Redford bending the ear of a student into getting involved and making a difference? The disingenuous-interview approach, with Senator Tom Cruise twisting DC reporter Meryl Streep (another in her series of political caricatures) around his finger with more neo-con snake oil? Or lessons from examples, as the film follows two of Redford’s former students who took his advice to get involved, volunteered for the Army, and are now victims of Cruise’s military adventurism. This last episode promises actual cinema, even irony, but why muddy the issues? Whatever the choice between lions and lambs, Redford prefers indoctrination to drama. 88 minutes | Boston Common + Fresh Pond + Circle + Suburbs

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Topics: Reviews , Entertainment, Movies, Meryl Streep, More

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