Family-Faith Film Review: The American
By Catholic Office of Film and Broadcasting
The American—A professional assassin (George Clooney) flees to Italy in search of healing and a better life, only to discover that it’s hard to shake his past. He falls for the proverbial prostitute with a heart of gold (Violante Placido), and receives moral advice from the flawed but sympathetic local priest (Paolo Bonacelli), but must ultimately find his own way. Although the serious intent of the filmmakers is clear, director Anton Corbijn’s adaptation of Martin Booth’s novel “A Very Private Gentleman” makes for a dark, brooding and lethargic film that features graphic sexuality and an insubstantial treatment of Christian morality, only skirting the implications of its main character’s profoundly sinful situation. Bloody violence including multiple shootings, full-frontal female and partial male nudity, and explicit scenes of nonmarital sex. L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. (R) 2010
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