Review of The Company You Keep (2012) by David F — 29 Apr 2013

This movie combines, expertly, several different genres. There's the newspaper reporter doggedly pursuing a story against the backdrop of the dying print media industry. There's a FBI manhunt. And there's a wanted criminal on the run trying to flee justice.

The movie switches between these three points of view to tell a story about a group of anti-war protesters who robbed a bank decades ago before going into hiding. After one is arrested the others have to act quickly before they too are caught, though now their calculations must take into account their differing views and the addition of family members unaware of their past activities.

The suspense and storytelling in this film builds, layer upon layer, along with significant and well thought out themes like terrorism, family, and secrets, up to a climax that has both the clangorous pleasures of the fugitive action movie as well as the intellectual satisfactions of a more cerebral independent film.

Robert Redford's wrinkly paunchy body is the perfect vehicle for youthful political idealism changed into something else, like a grape left out in the sun to become a raisin, and his direction deftly balances the exciting scenes of pursuit with the more dialogue filled parts of reflection.

This is a brilliant moving film which doesn't neglect the the thriller aspects of its premise.