Lions For Lambs

Two sets of events on opposite sides of America held together by a third strand – two wounded soldiers in Afghanistan desperately awaiting rescue. A big name cast. Vitally important world issues. So how could this film get it all so wrong?

In Washington Senator Jasper Irving (Tom Cruise) has called a reporter (Meryl Streep) to his office to unveil “the implementation of a new strategy”. This is a man who deals with criticism by raising his voice and asking: “Do you want to win the war on terror? Yes or no?” The new strategy is to send in smaller bands of men to fight the Taliban, which is somehow going to work better than six years of sending in large numbers. Meryl Streep mentions the word “bait” and is strongly rebuffed. “We do whatever it takes.” says the senator, to which the reporter adds “says the man in the air conditioned room.”

Meanwhile, in “a university in California” Professor Malley (Robert Redford) confronts one of his star students (Andrew Garfield), a privileged youth who has become cynical about his lectures in political science, something which seems to baffle the professor who urges him to think about what he stands for and to go out and fight for what he believes in.

Fighting for what they believe in are our two wounded heroes in Afghanistan who, we learn, are former students of Professor Malley, who was actually dismayed when they took his advice so literally. They are victims of the senator’s new strategy, which has already been implemented. And so we go back and forth between these two ever more tedious conversations in America, while snippets from Afghanistan provide a disappointing amount of action.

Somewhere in this mess there is an interesting point to be made. Not the one about what the hell the US government thinks it is doing, but the fact that those from the least privileged backgrounds are often the ones most willing to make sacrifices for their country while their better off counterparts step back.

Good performances from two of the leads (Redford is underwhelming) cannot save this dreary film. But Tom Cruise is quite chillingly well cast as the republican with his eye on the top job. Now that could make a disturbing film.