Susan Granger’s review of “The Good Shepherd” (Universal Pictures)
Judging by this epic chronicle of an undercover operative who co-founded the CIA, Robert DeNiro is a far better actor than director.
At Yale back in 1939, Edward Wilson (Matt Damon) joins the secretive Skull and Bones society, a WASPy brotherhood from which many American presidents, politicians and judges have been culled. After a truncated affair with a deaf woman (Tammy Blanchard), he’s forced into a shotgun wedding with Margaret “Clover” Russell (Angelina Jolie), the seductive sister/daughter of fellow Skull and Bonesmen.
A clandestine meeting with an Army General (Robert DeNiro) leads to Wilson’s joining the Office of Strategic Services. Dispatched to London, he learns about the uses of information and disinformation from American spying pros (Michael Gambon, William Hurt, Alec Baldwin, John Turturro) and their smug British counterpart (Billy Crudup). Meanwhile, on the home front, Wilson’s son (Eddie Redmayne) grows up, barely knowing his father but determined to emulate him.
Written by Eric Roth and directed by DeNiro, the complex, somewhat unfocused story unfolds in a tedious series of flashbacks, including John Kennedy’s Bay of Pigs fiasco which seriously compromises Wilson’s career and the Agency. There’s a revelatory scene in which Wilson confronts a Mafia don (Joe Pesci), declaring that America belongs to the WASPs and everyone else – Italians, Jews, Irish and blacks – are merely visitors.
But the production values and the understated acting are top-notch. Bespectacled Matt Damon personifies the paranoid intensity and personal sacrifices involved with espionage; in every detail, his character seems to be modeled on CIA co-founder James Angleton. And, over the years, Angelina Jolie evolves from feisty to frosty. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Good Shepherd” is a shadowy 7, steeped in the moral decay that formed today’s geopolitical landscape.
