Closing the Ring (2007)

Closing the Ring: Directed by Richard Attenborough. With Shirley MacLaine, Christopher Plummer, Dylan Roberts, Gene Dinovi. A young man searches for the proper owner of a ring that belonged to a U.S. World War II bomber gunner who crashed in Belfast, Northern Ireland on June 1, 1944.

“Never make promises you canu0026#39;t fulfill, otherwise youu0026#39;ll find that nagging feeling coming back to haunt you, and it can be quite uncomfortable, unless of course it doesnu0026#39;t bother you as far as integrity and trustworthiness are concerned. Then again thereu0026#39;s the living a lie, of not being true to yourself, which sometimes can be tricky when it deals with affairs of the heart, where ignorance may be bliss.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eClosing the Ring throws its hat into the WWII era inspired romance stories, where boys turn into men, and have to leave their lady love behind at home while they ship off to the warfront. With events that unfold across two different continents, and unfolding between two different timelines with the necessary flash backs, flash forwards, and nicely edited transitions, the movie isnu0026#39;t that bad although the story might be at times clichéd.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eJack (Gregory Smith), Chuck (David Alpay) and Teddy (Stephen Amell) are three buddies who join the air force, and are training to be pilots, navigators and gunners, whatever it takes to bring them to the skies. Mischa Barton stars as young Ethel Ann whou0026#39;s the flower amongst the group, but only having romantic feelings for Teddy, whom she married in secret before the trio got shipped away to join the war.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThatu0026#39;s the arc of the past, where we see how their relationship with one another hold up during mankindu0026#39;s darkest hour. The arc of the present has Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer take up the senior roles of Ethel Ann and Jack respectively, and on the other side of the continent in Northern Ireland, we follow Michael Quinlan (Pete Postlethwaite) and Jimmy Reilly (Martin McCann), where the latter is a simple minded teen helping the former fireman dig around Black Mountain in search of something of value.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI guess by now you can piece together a little bit of what could possibly happen, and added to the fray is the IRAu0026#39;s struggle for independence in 1991. Characters interact by crossing continents, mysteries and confirmation of what happened during those faithful and pivotal moments in WWII get revealed and explained, and feelings slowly get revealed, demolishing some long held denial and unawareness. Although given what would transpire, you wonder if itu0026#39;s remotely possible to pine for someone for so long, or to lock away your heart so cruelly that you shut off affections even for your own child.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s still an enjoyable movie, though not exactly a great one but it does get to its point quickly. You might find yourself being a step ahead of the characters and piece together all the information provided way in advance, but still, if youu0026#39;d enjoyed movies like Atonement and Evening, then you wouldnu0026#39;t find this that bad at all. Oh, and the English subtitles did help in deciphering some thick Irish accent.”