Review of The Company You Keep (2012) by Ming Siu G — 12 May 2013

Right-wing rubes got all into hysterics over the latest film from Robert Redford, tacking The Company You Keep as a celebration of the notorious Weather Underground, 1960's radicals who sought to violently overthrow the government (sounds like that'd be right up a Teabaggers' alley but I digress). What Redford is really going for is a meditation on the corruption and dark side of 60's idealism. Adapting the novel by Neil Gordon with Lem Dobbs, director and star Redford weave a tale of extremists who went into hiding. When a present-day new York woman, Sharon Solarz (Susan Sarandon), turns herself into custody for a 30-year-old Michigan bank robbery that claimed the life of a security guard, that sparks the interest of reporter Ben Shepard (Shia LaBeouf) to investigate these radicals. He finds out about Jim Grant (Redford), a widowed lawyer with a daughter (Jacqueline Evancho). Jim has been using a false identity for years, but as Ben gets closer to tying him to Sharon and the murder, Jim goes on the run, and tries to locate a former lover, Mimi (an excellent Julie Christie). who may be able to clear his name.

It's great stuff, reminiscent of Redford's great 70's thrillers, and filled to the brim with a human element that cuts deep. There's no chasing after martyrdom, or even redemption really. Redford and his ace cast together build a pulse-pounding, resonant political thriller that revels in the complexities of it characters, and never once dumbs things down for its audience. There's something you hardly get from Hollywood.