Atonement

TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2026 REVIEW! In Atonement, Kenneth Branagh plays Michael Reid, a reporter covering the Iraq War in 2003 and its aftermath that persists to the present day.  Branagh is the glue holding the plot together, but he isn’t the emotional core of the movie.  That comes on two opposing sides — Boyd Holbrook, who plays Lou D’Alessandro, a Marine who took part in the killing of innocent civilians in Iraq — and Hiam Abbass, who plays Mariam Khachaturian, a woman whose husband and two sons were killed in the attack.  

Obviously, the 2026 Atonement has nothing to do with the 2007 film Atonement.  It is a bold move to give a new film the same title as a well-known and well-liked movie that was Oscar-nominated for Best Picture.  It seems the title so perfectly captures the subject hanging over the film that nothing else would do.  It is also based on a true story told in a 2012 New Yorker article of the same name by Dexter Filkins, although the names of the participants and many of the details have been changed.  Director Reed Van Dyk adapted the New Yorker article and shares a co-writing credit with Filkins.  

We also follow the Marines on the roof, who quickly realize they’ve done something terrible.

As Atonement begins, we’re following the Khachaturian family.  A bomb goes off just outside the home they’re staying in, rattling them to the core.  They had relocated there because their own home had become too dangerous.  But given their new jeopardy, they decide to take their chances and drive back to their old home.  The family loads up into multiple vehicles, including Mariam, her husband, her sons, and her daughter Nora (played by Iraqi-Dutch actress Gheed).  They get caught up in a firefight, and a team of American soldiers, shooting from a rooftop, shoots the husband, two sons, and Nora.  Nora and Mariam survive, but their brothers & father/sons & husband are killed.  We also follow the Marines on the roof, who quickly realize they’ve done something terrible.  Some are shaken — others try to justify it to themselves.  American reporter Michael Reed starts trying to piece together what happened, visiting the hospital where the family is being treated, and later the Marine unit responsible.  He gets enough to write a story, which rounds out what is effectively the prologue of the film.

Cut to years later. Lou, one of the Marines, is wracked with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) — his relationship is suffering, he’s got anger management issues, and he’s tried to self-medicate to the point of being discharged other than honorably.  Meanwhile, Mariam and Nora have moved to the US and are trying to put the past behind them.  When they get word from the man who played a role in killing the loved ones that he’d like to meet them and apologize, it reopens old wounds.  The reporter, Reid, is asked to facilitate such a meeting and is struggling with whether or not it is the kind of thing he should write a story about.