Review by Desirée Leal

Multi-layered with symbolism in every nook and cranny, Adoration delivers a true Atom Egoyan experience, but with a wonderful new and deeply emotional twist. This is the story of a young man, his uncle, his dead parents and his French teacher - and how their lives converge. But more importantly it is a story about faith, point of view and the basic need to be heard, even if one is not understood.

As part of a class project and closely supervised (and encouraged) by his teacher, a high school student named Simon takes on a false identity - that of the son of a would-be terrorist - and talks to his classmates about the terrorist attack, orchestrated by his father, that almost happened. In school, as well as on the internet, Simon soon becomes the centre of passionate discussions on faith, sacrifice, martyrdom and racism - themes that are just as present and problematic in his family's real past.

Though still very didactic in its overall tone, Adoration has some truly sensitive moments that show it to be a film not quite as aware of itself as other Egoyan films have been. It also brings the subject of tolerance to a much more manageable size by using the personal and the family as the main catalyst for discussion and radiating outward from there -- something which we have also seen before in Egoyan's films but seems particularly effective here. With great performances by Devon Bostick and Scott Speedman and some really beautiful cinematography, Adoration was a joy to watch and talk about at length over a bite to eat afterwards.

Adoration
Atom Egoyan | Canada | 2008 | 100min