“The Good Shepherd” follows the career of CIA agent Edward Wilson, a man who would do anything to protect his country. Wilson follows in his father’s footsteps at Yale Skull and Bones Society. Wilson is recruited to the OSS, the precursor to the CIA. Wilson’s sense of integrity is tested the longer he is a member of the CIA and delves further into covert operations during the Cold War Era. The career CIA agent reaches his limit and begins to understand why his CIA mentor advised him to “trust no one”.

There are some fine performances in the film, with an excellent performance by Damon, whose character seems to live entirely in his head, sharing little of his feelings other than his love for his country. The cast does well overall with especially good performances by Alec Baldwin, William Hurt and Michael Gambon.

The screenplay is loosely based on real events, and the story is complicated to follow. Some clarification in the screenplay may have been helpful to movie audiences. The lighting and art direction is very effective here, providing great atmosphere to the movie. This is a well directed film, a good job by De Niro. This is a solid film with fine performances and one you should add to your “rent it” list.

2006. Directed by Robert De Niro. Starring Matt Damon, William Hurt, Alec Baldwin, John Turturro, Billy Crudup, Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, Keir Dullea and Michael Gambon.

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