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Angelina Jolie (right) stars with Matt Damon in The Good Shepherd.
The first time we meet Edward (Matt Damon), he is carefully placing a small folded up ship into the mouth of a bottle. He tugs on a string with a set of tweezers, opens the ship, and creates the impossible illusion of a ship trapped inside a glass bottle. Interestingly enough, he never corks the bottle. Even when we see the boat again a few scenes later, the bottle remains corkless, which begs the question: Once the ship is in the bottle, can it ever get out? Such is the life of Edward Wilson in Robert De Niro’s beautifully directed The Good Shepherd.
Shepherd tells the story of Edward and his family, the birth of the CIA, and gives us a movie-goer’s insight on events like The Bay of Pigs. Mostly though, it’s about Edward. Edward is a quiet man with a stone cold demeanor. He seems to have decided very little concerning the course his life has taken, but doesn’t complain much. When he impregnates Margaret (Angelina Joie), they get married even though he’s clearly in love with the enchanting Laura (Tammy Blanchard). In the midst of his wedding reception, he’s assigned to be stationed half way around the world to help with the newly forming CIA, pulling him away from his new family, and most heartbreakingly, the early life of his new son. And so on and so on as Edward and his family get older, his relationships become increasingly strained, and the secrets become harder to hide. In the later part of the film, Edward’s relationship with his son becomes the soul of the movie and dictates some of its most chilling moments.
Edward’s story is told in a series of non-linear segments that slowly unravels a mystery that ultimately has very little to do with the fate of the country and everything to do with the fate of a man and his family. The pacing of the film is slow at times, but the carefully timed uncovering of Edward’s emotional crisis is worth the journey. And while The Good Shepherd’s conclusion is fairly quiet in tone, it’s also as heavy as a boulder.
The movie’s performances are top notch, including wonderful appearances by Michael Gambon, Joe Pesci, John Tuturro, and Robert De Niro. Tammy Blanchard’s Laura is an absolute vision in a role that gives us a glimpse at what Edward’s life might have been like. Damon, as Edward, shows off a talent in this film of controlled restraint in a role that proves that sometimes less is more. It’s especially impressive to watch his tight-faced Edward bloom into life in moments that separate him from his life of secrets and mystery.
Where the film falls just short of greatness is in its ability to meaningfully connect Edward’s familial drama with the politically charged story of mystery and intrigue. The mystery of the film takes a back seat and unfortunately suffers a lack of real excitement, which left me wanting a little more and wishing that the CIA storyline had been fleshed out in a movie all of its own. Ultimately though, this is a great movie-going experience and one that deserves to be seen. The Good Shepherd may not be an especially important movie, like it might have been, but it is undoubtedly a good one.
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