Lions for Lambs (2007)

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Directed by: Robert Redford
Starring: Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise, Michael Pena and Derek Luke

It seems like there are a metric ton of political films being made right now. Is it any wonder? We are in the middle of one of the most controversial wars ever and our country is divided possibly even more than the rest of the world is. With that said, is Lions for Lambs a political film? You betcha! Am I going to take those politics on and discuss and dissect the issues? Nope. If you are wondering why I can explain quite simply with two reasons, first, I am sure there will be any number of sites that address the politics of the film and they will probably do a MUCH better job than I can. Second, the way I see it, you came to this website to read about films, not be lectured on politics. I would not want to go to your site about yellow nail fungus and be forced to read all about global warming so I will pay you the same courtesy. What I will do instead is focus on the story of the film and its philosophical message.

Lions for Lambs is essentially three very different stories all linked together by small but important threads. The first story is an interview/verbal duel between a political reporter named Janine Roth(Streep) and a Republican senator, Jasper Irving(Cruise). Roth is a long time journalist who at one time named Irving as the future of his party. As a thank you to her Irving has picked her to write the exclusive story of a new military strategy being implemented in Afghanistan… which brings us to our next story line that centers around two soldiers in Afghanistan fighting America’s War on Terror, and playing the role of spearhead in Irving’s new strategy. The two, Ernie(Pena, you might remember him as the ONLY character in Crash with ANY redeemable quality what-so-ever) and Arian(Luke), are long time friends and political science majors from the same university. They both come from dangerous neighborhoods and managed athletics scholarships to continue their education. The two feel that by joining the army and fighting for their country that once they return t start their political careers that they can change things because people would HAVE to listen to them then. Their collegiate history provides the tie-in to our third story line. Their political science professor is a man named Stephen Malley(Redford). Malley begins his part by having a meeting with one of his students, Todd Hayes(Andrew Garfield), about his constant absence from class. Malley sees a LOT of potential in Hayes and gives Hayes the opportunity to get a B in his class and never have to take one of his classes again, OR get an A on two conditions. One, Hayes must attend EVERY class for the rest of the semester AND he must sit and let Malley tell him about the ast two students that gave him so much hope, Ernie and Arian.

Jumping backwards, the interview between Roth and Irving begins with Cruise explaining that the time has come for a change in the War on Terror, that it is time for a new strategy. When Roth asks why this strategy was not implemented earlier Irving explains that mistakes have been made and that whether people agree with the reasons why we are in Iraq and Afghanistan or not, the point is what is done is done and now we have to finish the fight. This part of the film is by far the most political, and make no mistake, it does certainly lean to the left a little so if you are hard right you might not enjoy this story line. It is not too far left though, Irving is a little on the single minded side of things though thankfully Redford decided not to make him an oily character. That would have most certainly colored the entire film’s slant way too much. By making Irving a somewhat respectable and principled man Redford manages to make the film not so much about the politics but about the philosophy, which I appreciated personally. Roth is who you might expect her to be, liberal by nature and completely at a loss as to how Irving can justify his new strategies and convinced that it is all old, Vietnam era thinking. Irving is the opposite of Roth who is equally frustrated by her inability to see what is completely obvious and what are irrefutable facts to him. The two duel back and forth for an hour and Roth learns that Irving’s new strategy has been launched into action as they sit in his office. The mood changes several times with either character putting the other on their heels and with Irving’s staff bringing him updates on the military action that he has engineered.

On to Ernie and Arian… These two are officers leading the charge of Irving’s “new strategy” which includes small groups of special forces troops taking key mountain tops over looking strategic points in the Afghan wastelands. While in flight their helicopter is attacked with small arms fire and RPGs. Ernie fires a .50 caliber machine gun out of the rear of the helicopter at the enemy but the helicopter is again hit by a RPG which pitches poor Ernie right out of the aircraft and onto the snow covered mountaintop below. Arian, after only the briefest of hesitation jumps right out of the helicopter after his friend. Ernie and Arian are surrounded by the enemy, severely injured and only have minimal ammunition. A rescue operation is immediately launched as well as air support to bomb the hills that the Taliban fighters are hiding in but time and the odds are against both Ernie and Arian.

The final part is Malley’s attempt to snap the smart AND smartass Hayes out of his apathy, the same apathy that plagues all of our nation’s youth, and make him realize that while our country is damaged, it is not beyond hope and there are still many worse places in the world to be. All it takes to make things better is for people to stop being apathetic, put their money where their mouth is, and DO something. Malley does this by telling about how much promise Ernie and Arian have and how they has risked everything to go fight for a country that ignores the horrendous conditions they grew up in. Slowly Malley begins to get through to Hayes and we start to see the realization in Hayes that all his rhetoric is basically bullshit. He slowly begins to understand that his dream of living the good life in the easiest way possible is a total sellout of his potential to help change the world for the better and that it takes some bravery, the true kind as shown by Ernie and Arian to step up and make those changes.

Lions for Lambs is a REALLY good film and one of the better films I have seen this year. It is a very good statement of the issues facing our country and our world. As previously stated, it does have a slight liberal slant, but it is Hollywood and Redford so you kind of have to expect that. All things considered though Redford did a good job of sharing blame on both sides for the situation we are in now as a country. All I can tell you is that as a man who had two family members and a few friends serve in Afghanistan and Iraq, I did enjoy this film and felt that the story line of Ernie and Arian was well served.




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