The Good Shepherd
Matt Damon has made a career for himself as the man who holds secrets that noone will ever catch from him. This of course is the nature of the spy game in Mr. DeNiro’s strong film. People call it boring and plodding but I disagree. Secrets are captivating and empowering, and those who have the capacity to hold secrets are all the more powerful. I prefer autonomy and creativity as primary goals in life, but trustworthy friendships rely on vaulting information about other human beings. Mr. Damon plays a man with skeletons who is indoctrinated into the Skull and Bones Society at Yale, from which wealth and power spring as if this needs to be stated. His character is observed between WWII and the escalating Cold War in an intelligent and economic fashion.
There is plenty of intrigue that makes the spy game exciting, and this picture reminds me that the spy game is not for me. I am pleased not to spend my life in a hallway of mirrors. To live a life trusting no person on the planet is a depressing thought. And of course there is this argument that many enemies are often closer than the media is dispensed to write about. It is a fragile world in the end, and these people have their purposes. I do think there are plenty of government people in every nation who want to protect their respective countries. Mr. DeNiro asks what the personal cost is for such commitment in the powerfully persuasive The Good Shepherd.