De Niro film The Good Shepherd is illuminating

The Good Shepherd

Director: Robert De Niro

Cast: Robert De Niro, John Turturro, Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie

Cert: 15

While this is an interesting film – De Niro’s return to directing since the early l990s – it’s hard to figure out if it’s a docu-dram or a thriller. It makes for a better former.

It’s really the story of how the Stateside CIA came about, seen through the eyes of one of its first recruits, Edward Wilson (Damon).

There is little cut-and-thrust action since De Niro sticks to the nuts-and-bolts piecing together of the organisation from its birth in the WW2 intelligence OSS outfit.

What the director does well is the close examination of how the spies got to be how they are, particularly in the in-fighting and nimble stepping of those involved.

A curious, though ultimately illuminating, piece of cinema.

Star Rating: 4/5