Chapter twenty-nine: Lions for Lambs

Janine Roth (Meryl) is a journalist working for a substantially big news corporation. She is on an assignment in Washington D.C. to interview the young senator and aspiring presidential candidate, Jasper Irving, (Tom Cruise.) Jasper's intention for calling the one hour meeting is to reveal his plans to handle the War on Terror in Afghanistan, which he then hopes Janine will publish into an article, which will then restore the American people's faith in the Republican Party, and simultaneously influence his chances of winning if he chooses to run in the next presidential election. Six years prior, Janine wrote an article on the senator that was neither flattering nor bad, but Jasper thinks that his chances of manipulating Janine's opinion of him are greater because the two are already familiar with one another.

While the interview occurs, the mission in Afghanistan that Senator Irving approved is happening at that very moment. We are taken to a separate, yet related, story of two young men, Ernest and Arian, who are soldiers fighting in the Afghanistan mission. Their helicopter was nearly shot down, causing Ernest to fall out of the helicopter and into the snowy mountain banks. Arian, being his best friend, jumps out of the plane so that Ernest won't have to be alone. They lie there aching for an approximate hour, waiting for rescue to come, while working to defend themselves against possible enemies.

Ernest and Arian (Michael Peña and Derek Luke) happen to be former students of college professor Mr. Stephen Malley who is played by none other than Robert Redford:) Only, he's aged a bit since Out of Africa. Mr. Malley teaches political science, and is having a meeting with Todd Hanyes, (Andrew Garfield) a lackadaisical student of his with apparent potential. This brings us to the movie's third and final story. Mr. Malley hopes to get some hour-long one-on-one time with Todd and reignite his passion for his major. He does such by telling anecdotes about Ernest and Arian- two students who came from nothing but put action before talk. Mr. Malley makes very influential points like, "you never stay the same person you are now," "promise and potential fade," and, "political methods are as old as time."

In the end, Senator Jasper's goals for his interview with Janine go unfulfilled because she is able to counter argue nearly everything he is saying, so he realizes this interview isn't working to his advantage. He also gets word that his mission in Afghanistan is failing, so with that, Janine takes her notes back to the office and informs her boss that she can't write another story like this because it isn't the truth. All it is is a ploy for an election campaign. It isn't she needs to write because it's so similar to all of the others that have been written for the past decades. She's fed up and wants to write an article uncovering what's really going on behind closed doors. Her boss refuses to give her the opportunity to write such a narrative like that because he thinks it's purely based on Janine's woman's intuition. She rightfully quits.

Back in Afghanistan, Ernest and Arian are running short of luck and have defended themselves for as long as they can. They decide to lift each other up and go out standing, surrendering themselves to the enemy. What's awful is that immediately after this decision, rescue arrives. In California, professor Malley's conversation has registered with Todd, and the choice to appear in class or not is his. If he does, he learns. If not, Mr. Malley has offered him a "straight blue collar B" for the rest of the semester.

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This movie was quite good. It was even directed by Robert Redford, so it is very much a reflection of his political views. Personally for me, I had to watch it twice to grasp the harsh politically-involved concepts of it all, but my dad watched it with me and explained most of it to me, so all is good, and props to him. I think the movie is also a good interpretation of how war affects all of us: the reports, the politicians, the soldiers, the people who knew those soldiers, etc. In any case, if subject matters such as these float your boat, I would recommend this film in a heartbeat. It's a nice watch too because it's fairly short in length (only an hour and a half!)

As always, thank you for the entertainment, Meryl.