Of lions and lambs

Movie
German title	Of lions and lambs
Original title	Lions for Lambs
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	2007
length	88 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12 ; JMK 10
Rod
Director	Robert Redford
script	Matthew Michael Carnahan
production	Matthew Michael Carnahan, ; Tom Cruise , ; Tracy Falco , ; Andrew Hauptman , ; Robert Redford
music	Mark Isham
camera	Philippe Rousselot
cut	Joe Hutshing
occupation
	Robert Redford : Stephen Malley; Meryl Streep : Janine Roth; Tom Cruise : Senator Jasper Irving; Peter Berg : Lt. Col. Falco; Michael Peña : Ernest Rodriguez; Derek Luke : Arian Finch; Andrew Garfield : Todd Hayes; Tracy Dali : Entourage; Jennifer Sommerfield : presenter of a show;

Of lions and lambs (original title Lions for Lambs ) is an American drama from 2007 . Directed by Robert Redford and written by Matthew Michael Carnahan .

action

The film takes place in three interwoven and chronologically parallel storylines.

Stephen Malley, a political science professor at a West Coast university, meets early in the morning with his student Todd Hayes to talk about his noticeable absence from class.

Hayes initially pretends that his girlfriend and his position as president of a fraternity are the reason for his failure. In the further course of the conversation, however, it becomes more and more apparent that Hayes' disenchantment with politics is the real reason for his lack of interest and his doubts about the choice of political science as a subject. He gives the professor insight into his thoughts: through his parents he had received hard-earned advantages that he wanted to use. He prefers the private, withdrawn life to the public, but in his opinion dishonest and corrupt life of a politician.

Malley then gives him a lecture about moral courage and the willingness to stand up for his firm convictions. As an example, he cites two of his former students, an African American and a Latin American, who came from simpler backgrounds and who were given the opportunity to study through a sports scholarship. On his advice to show more public engagement, they signed up for military service, although he warned them of the dangers of such a career. Malley, who considers Hayes, who comes from a privileged background, to be intelligent and talented, implores him to use his life. He warns him accusingly against joining the collective of inactive and possibly becoming the pawn of power-hungry politicians. He will not be able to lead his comfortable, secluded private life if he does not also make his contribution to the functioning of the community.

At the same time, Time journalist Janine Roth is meeting with Republican Senator Jasper Irving in Washington to obtain information and views from him for a chronicle of the US missions abroad she is working on. Irving, on the other hand, would like to take the opportunity to introduce Roth to new military tactical plans for the Afghanistan mission, ostensibly out of gratitude for an earlier article. Roth should present the new tactics as effective as possible in the media in order to improve morale and attitudes towards foreign missions in the country. The journalist also suspects that the young senator, if the plans he has published are successful, will be hoping for the favor of the voters in a future presidential election, even though the latter will rule out a candidacy. Back in the editorial office, she informs the editor-in-chief. The latter is only interested in the headlines, but she refuses to publish them because she is afraid that Senator Irving will use her as an instrument for his purposes and war prognosis, as was the case during the Vietnam War .

Parallel to the events in the United States, the implementation of the new military operation in Afghanistan begins. The task of a first task force is to set up an advanced base of operations on a hill with tactical significance. The helicopter sets off in the night, but comes under fire. A soldier named Ernest falls from the helicopter, another named Arian jumps after it. They are the two former students of Professor Malley. A short time later, Taliban fighters approach ; The two students can only defend themselves with difficulty, however, as Ernest was seriously injured in the leg in the crash. The helicopter sent to the rescue takes too long, and the fighter aircraft sent out to provide support can only inadequately repel the approaching fighters with small bombs. After Ernest and Arian have used their ammunition, they want to die a "dignified death". Arian helps Ernest up, although the Taliban don't shoot her immediately. The Taliban only shoot them after they consciously raise their already empty weapons. Moments later, the Taliban are bombed by a fighter plane.

The film leaves open what decision Todd will make. The last scene shows him thoughtfully next to a college friend in front of the television, watching the current news ticker about Irving's new Afghanistan strategy. Roth's broadcaster broadcast the news despite their concerns.

Reviews

The film received rather negative reviews. The film review portal Rotten Tomatoes gives 27% positive reviews for the film and it has a Metascore of 47 out of 100 at Metacritic .

Yassin Musharbash wrote in the magazine Der Spiegel on October 25, 2007 that the film shows “precisely the contradictions of US politics” and paints “a gloomy picture of the USA” .

Harry Nutt wrote in the Frankfurter Rundschau on October 26, 2007 that the film was a “wooden piece about politics, war, education and democratic values” . “The wooden frame of the classic three-part altarpiece” has “primarily a protective function” , and the film “ can be viewed as a travel triptych” . The director hopes "once more for the self-healing powers of American values" and " brings patriotism into play again" .

Prairie Miller wrote on www.counterpunch.org that the "haunting" film was "rough, grainy and highly stylized". He shows the events around the war on terror with the "piercing realism".

The German Film and Media Evaluation FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title valuable.

The lexicon of the international film judges: “While the three nested episodes have no visual references to each other, the dialogues of the masterful script result in both subtle and tense relationships. The film impressively questions how politics works, reflects the power and impotence of the press and highlights the dignity and responsibility of the individual. "

“Friends of the hardboiled crime writer legend James Ellroy were amazed when the creative minds were announced for the filming of“ White Jazz ”. Joe Carnahan, who had produced two good genre films with Narc and (later) Smokin 'Aces , was a surprise, but his brother Matthew Michael Carnahan had no one on the bill. Why the script newcomer is allowed to tackle this prestigious project has meanwhile been clarified. The man not only writes gripping dialogues, but is also not afraid to tackle the hot iron: What he indicated above all with the radical final turn in Operation: Kingdom, Matthew Michael Carnahan now brings with the unconventional political drama "Of Lions and Lambs “To full development. The script is as brilliant as it is socially critical, so that the novice at the time had director Robert Redford and the two superstars Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep on the mat in no time at all. Redford, who also plays one of the leading roles, puts the thumbscrews on American society and forces the audience to react - whatever that may be ... but some kind of reaction is essential. The problem: The arguments are not really new. "

- FilmStarts.de

backgrounds

The film was shot in Los Angeles and other locations in California . Its production amounted to an estimated 35 million US dollars . The film had its world premiere on October 22, 2007 at The Times bfi London Film Festival . On November 1, 2007, it was screened at the AFI Film Festival . It opened in German cinemas on November 8, 2007.

The film is the first project by the United Artists film studio, which has been headed by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner since the beginning of 2007 . In order to keep the budget of the film low, Redford, Cruise and Streep waived a large part of their fee in favor of a profit sharing.

The title comes from an alleged saying of the German General Max von Gallwitz during the First World War . Von Gallwitz is said to have admired the bravery of the English soldiers, but to have mocked the very mediocre leadership of their officers by calling the English "lions led by lambs" . This alleged quotation can not be found in Gallwitz's published memoirs (Experiences in the West 1916–1918) or in his diaries and is therefore probably part of the realm of legend.

Robert Redford is spoken in the German version by Kaspar Eichel . This replaces Rolf Schult , who has been Redford's standard speaker since the 1970s. Schult can only be heard in the first trailer, but only wanted to sign the contract for a fee of 50,000 euros. “They fell off their chairs, of course,” said Schult later at an award ceremony in May 2008 in Horhausen.

Web links

Lions for Lambs at the Internet Movie Database (English)
Lions for Lambs atRotten Tomatoes(English)

Individual evidence

↑ Age rating for Von Löwen und Lammern . Youth Media Commission .

↑ From Lions and Lambs at Rotten Tomatoes (English)

↑ About lions and lambs at Metacritic (English)

^ Film review by Yassin Musharbash, accessed October 29, 2007

^ Film review by Harry Nutt, accessed on October 29, 2007 ( Memento from November 3, 2007 in the Internet Archive )

↑ ^a ^b www.counterpunch.org, accessed on 23 October 2007

^ Journal film-dienst and Catholic Film Commission for Germany (eds.), Horst Peter Koll and Hans Messias (ed.): Lexikon des Internationale Films - Filmjahr 2007 . Schüren Verlag, Marburg 2008. ISBN 978-3-89472-624-9

^ Filming locations for Lions for Lambs, accessed October 23, 2007

^ Box office / business for Lions for Lambs, accessed October 23, 2007

^ Lions for Lambs premiere dates, accessed October 23, 2007