Adoration [DVD]

This is a thoughtful, intelligent and intriguing film from Atom Egoyan, one that is more clearly aligned to his more personal work on earlier films such Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter than some of his more recent commercial work. In a number of ways the subject deals with material that Michael Haneke covered in Hidden (Caché), using a family situation to look at race, terrorism and public attitudes and prejudices that come out of it as a response, in the process examining what this tells us about ourselves as a society. As such Adoration can be slow and contemplative, the subject rather dry and serious in places, but it is never as vague, allusive or as academically didactic as Haneke's film.

The central idea of the film is a fascinating one that immediately and persuasively draws the viewer in. Inspired by an article read out in class for French dictation, a 15 year-old student, Simon, has invented a story about his Arab father sending his mother on a plane to Israel with a bomb at a time when she was pregnant with him. His French teacher encourages Simon to expand on the story as a piece for her drama class, but crucially, without telling anyone that the story is a work of fiction. The incident sparks off a debate between the boy's fellow students and among the teaching profession, but it is also to have wider repercussions.

It's an interesting situation made all the more intriguing for the manner in which the director presents it, following several strands and including flashbacks, some of which may be real, others clearly invented, the debate taking place largely in the virtual medium of internet chat-rooms. All of this of course raises questions on the subjective nature of truth, impure motivations and the difficulty of establishing facts much less the truth. Even if the story Simon tells is false, is there not an underlying truth to it, and, since it gets people talking, does it even matter whether it is true or not? On the other hand, is just talking about it enough?

At times, the covering of these issues seems a little ...not so much didactic, confrontational or provocative (although it is all of these to a lesser extent), as much as rhetorical - not looking for answers as much as raising questions related to the world today and our response towards it. Crucially however, Adoration never diminishes the human question, relating it to real feelings towards of grief and bereavement, stemming from the tragedy of inexplicable deaths, and the wider impact this has on a community - bringing the film very much in line with Egoyan's Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter (not least in a significant bus accident here).

Adoration doesn't quite carry its premise through entirely satisfactorily, in the end revealing much that should be left ambiguous and over-burdening it with symbolism (the destruction of electronic media, the joining and separation of the scroll from the violin), but while it may be overly methodical and too deliberately paced for some viewers, the film is never less than intelligent, provocative and intriguing in its treatment of relevant modern-day issues.

New Wave's UK DVD release is well-presented, with an clean enhanced 16:9 widescreen image as well as a 2.0 and subtly effective 5.1 audio mix. The film is in English and there are no subtitle or hard-of-hearing options. Extras include the Trailer and an 18 minute interview with the director.

Visual Technology has caught up with Atom Egoyan, and not in a good way. Often he could take a familiar story about a disfunctional extended family or community and with the use of grainy film stock or video provide insight and revelation of Hitchcock proportions.One character could be filming an event in the film adding to the layers of metaphor in the narrative. He did this to great effect on The Adjuster and to a lesser effect The Sweet Hearafter and Exotica. In Adoration he attempts the same insight through chatrooms. The main character of a 15yr old boy is the product of a very disfunctional family. Encouraged by his drama teacher - again played by Egoyan's adored but miscast wife, he performs a monologue that suggests his arab father attempted to lure his pregnant mother onto a plane carrying a bomb bound for Israel. Once this story gets out the ensuing chatroom debates are fierce and cover prejudice, racism and intellectual niavity to state that truth is less important than being part of something. People will say or do anything not to be egnored. This theme of exclusion from family on the grounds of race,age,class or religion stretches credibility to it's limits. Ironically if the movie had been written by a 15yr old it may have seemed insightful but an experienced director who is far from on top of his game cant claim over-simplification as an excuse. The film ends up clunky and is not his best!