The Good Shepherd -- 2006 -- R

So back to movies. I finally got to watch "The Godfather of CIA movies," and I find I wasn't disappointed in it. It didn't have the depth of the Godfather, but it was a good drama nonetheless.

The story follows Edward Wilson, a character loosely based on one of the founders of the CIA, and his life leading up to his inception into this secret service, and what that life meant for him and his family. His skills were admired by those around him, and he was given roles deeper and deeper into the quagmire of the business to the point that "we don't talk about what I do." The secrecy of his position drives a wedge between him and his wife and son (who he didn't even see till the boy was six) to the point that she lives apart from him, and his son wants to follow in his footsteps, but manages to fail miserably.

The story is about Edward Wilson, and in that point it faithfully remains but to the detriment of all the other characters. No one else gets much of a fleshing, and not even many of the relationships get much. On the one hand, this seems like a waste, but on the other, it really mirrors Edward's life, because he didn't build strong relationships or understand the character of those around, so we actually learn about as much about everyone as he does. We try to trust who he tries to trust, and learn to dislike or misunderstand who he dislikes or misunderstands. He remains fully the central character in the story and the stry never departs from him to learn much about what else goes on.

Since it's a drama, the plot is Edward's journey; but what is this journey? What does he gain or lose? How does he change? He tries to grow closer to his family, but he doesn't really succeed. He does grow in his job, but that's all he does. He remains mostly a static character, which is the movie's greatest weak point. He ages throughout the film, but never really learns anything. He might get something about the importance of family, but that never really comes into play as the family takes as much a backseat as everything else (altough deleted scenes reveal this is because an entire subplot involving his brother-in-law -- dead in the bulk of the movie -- gives this family interaction).

So it makes for a great character analysis of one man, but while you get an understanding of who he is, you also get the understanding that he always was this way and likely always will be. The world kept shifting around him while he remained exactly the same.