The Good Shepherd

Edward Wilson is the thinking man’s hero. He’s smart, soft-spoken, and will do absolutely anything to protect the country he loves. So when he’s recruited to become a member of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), he faithfully accepts and soon finds himself caught up in a precarious web of uncertainty and deception. His tumultuous journey from Yale University to becoming the head of counter-intelligence for the CIA is the subject of Robert De Niro’s long, yet fascinatingly mysterious new film “The Good Shepherd", which chronicles the dawn of the Central Intelligence Agency during a very turbulent period in American history.

Since the film covers nearly twenty-five years, we are given an in-depth look at Wilson’s life before he became a government big shot and begin to understand why he acts the way he does in certain situations. While attending Yale, he was part of the secret society known as Skull and Bones and was essentially being groomed for a life of shadows and secrecy. Everything he did carried a label of confidentiality and he ultimately had to leave his emotions at the door if he wanted to succeed.

In what is probably the most underrated performance of 2006, Matt Damon captures the essence of Wilson’s true nature and delivers a brilliantly understated portrayal of a man whose only real friend was the country he sacrificed everything to protect. Although Wilson is almost the complete opposite of the character he played in “The Departed", Damon plays him with passionate sincerity and definitely makes him convincing every step of the way.

When Wilson is contacted by General Bill Sullivan, played by De Niro himself, he agrees to take a integral role in the development of an intelligence agency that would be in charge of monitoring things between the US and Soviet Union. His situation becomes complicated when he has to leave his wife and head to Europe to interview potential German informants, but his dedication to work always comes before anything else.

Upon returning home, he finds that his wife Margaret (Angelina Jolie) has apparently moved on with her life and has no interest in rekindling a relationship that was never really devoted to begin with. Jolie’s presence here is heartfelt, but I still feel that she was greatly underused and her widespread talent never really comes out. One of the only things keeping them connected is their son Edward Jr., who eventually becomes interested in joining the CIA, but his mother fights for him to reconsider.

Since the film constantly jumps between 1939 and 1961, the audience’s attention must be rock solid to avoid missing any significant details. Although some might find this to be a difficult task, I found the film to be very informative even without knowing all of the details about what was going on. Each actor’s performance corresponds directly with the pace of the film and despite some sluggish moments, it’s actually quite profound in its lifelessness. In just his second directorial effort, De Niro has created a film that is sometimes dull, but always sharp and perplexing.

Every character has their own agenda and is consistently hesitant over who to trust when their life is on the line. De Niro’s subtle direction mixed with Eric Roth’s ingeniously written script produces a thought-provoking exercise about family, trust, and how far one is willing to go to protect what they love.

- *** ½ out of 4