Review of An Unfinished Life (2005) by Dave C — 26 Jan 2008

An Unfinished Life has a ton of potential, and has all the elements for a great philosophical drama. It's unfortunate that it chooses to cut corner's to reach the end result.

One of the main things that gets in the way of this film being great is the fact that one can easily tell where it's going and what it's trying to be not to long after it starts. That's not always a bad thing, but when the film ends up taking certain things for granted it tends to spoil the journey.

The film has a ton of heart. It explores themes of unforgiveness, moving forward with your life, and celebrating what you have. There are a ton of interconnected relationships that help bring these themes alive. There's the hard hearted father in law who, after years apart can't seem to move past grieving for his son and blaming his son's wife for his death. There's the granddaughter who represents, for the grandfather, a means of connecting with his lost son. There's the long time friend in whom has become the father in law's debt to repay and his only connection to social freedom. There's the wayward husband who beats and abuses but yet doesn't want to lose all that he has. And there is the lonely cop who gets brought into the middle of all of these relationships.

Robert Redford turns in the best performance of the film, and he is also given most of the screen time. He seems to be the one character that we are allowed to connect with the most. There is a ton that could have been offered by Morgan Freeman's character (the long time friend whom has succombed to the care of Redford due to an unfortunate accident), but the film instead chooses to use him to push the deeper elements of the story further when it needs to be. He becomes the voice of reason and the embodiment of the films deeper themes, but rather then allow him to flurish as a character they diminish him to merely a voice and partial narrator.

Likewise the film begins abruptly by introducing us to Lopez's character, but then it kind of leaves her in the dust as the film heads eagerly towards it's conclusion. She can act, and they should have allowed her a bit more freedom. The child actor also suffers under some poor dialogue and lack of screen time and room to develop.

The film does boast some incredible scenery, which helps to slow it down. It's those moments that tend to be the best scenes in the film actually. It also explores some great thematic elements by incorporating a side story involving a bear. The bear becomes symbolic of the interconnected relationships, and helps to bring that to life.

The film needs to be appreciated for it's potential at the very least. It has some good actors, it just doesn't give them room to give some great performances. And it's got a great philosophical heart that would have been even more powerful if it had been played out through the performances rather then being narrated. But nonetheless, it still has a lot to say.