10 War Movie Plot Twists That Nobody Saw Coming
1. Briony's Revelation - Atonement
Based on Ian McEwan's novel of the same name, Joe Wright's Atonement received a tidal wave of positive critical reception. The 2007 offering chronicles a purported crime and its devastating consequences over the course of nearly 60 years, set against the backdrop of WWII.
This evocative meditation on remorse and loss centres on Saoirse Ronan's Briony, who mistakenly accuses her older sister Cecilia's boyfriend Robbie - played by Keira Knightley and James McAvoy respectively - of a sexual assault. The innocent Robbie is incarcerated until he is eventually released to fight when war breaks out.
Atonement's twist isn't so much a twist as it is an emotional trainwreck. Robbie eventually makes it home - via the beaches of Dunkirk no less - to be reunited with Cecilia, eventually culminating in a tearful apology to the pair from Briony for her harrowing mistake. All's well that ends well, right?
Wrong. This happy ending is revealed to be a complete fabrication of the guilt-stricken Briony's mind, adapted into the chapters of an autobiographical novel to atone for her seismic levels of regret. In reality, Robbie died from an infected wound while waiting to be evacuated and Cecilia met her own demise soon after in the Balham tube station bombing.
Simply put, it's the most gutting twist to conclude a movie imaginable.