Lions for Lambs tackles three intertwining stories that explore many of the harsher realities of our world today.
Streep and Redford give solid performances as a conflicted journalist and an idealistic professor respectively, and Tom Cruise is very believable as a smarmy, manipulative politician. But the topics the story touches on can be overwhelming, running the current events gamut from integrity in journalism to the war in Afghanistan to the apathy and cynicism of our nation's youth. As a member of that youth, I found this last point to be poorly drawn.
In a scene that characterizes college students in a manner both laughable and offensive, one student returns to his frat house one morning to be greeted by a frat brother who marvels at how early it is (close to noon) while watching TV. That scene is one of a number in Lions for Lambs that relies on stereotypical images to create a point, with the unfortunate consequence that viewers who defy these stereotypes will undoubtedly feel insulted rather than stimulated.
The end result is a movie that can be provocative and touching, but also emotionally exhausting and, worse still, manipulative. Redford surely wants the audience to think. But his method - bombarding the viewer with a series of very serious questions which are never unanswered - leaves much to be desired.
