Lee (2024)
Directed by: Ellen Kuras
Premise: A biographical drama of photographer Lee Miller (Kate Winslet), a war correspondent in World War II. Lee photographs the European theater and her work is complicated by sexism and the publisher’s reluctance to face the horrors of war.
What Works: Lee is led by Kate Winslet as Lee Miller and this is the kind of character that Winslet does well. Lee is tough, complicated, and sexual and she has a clear moral point of view; Lee pushes her way into war correspondence and runs up against sexist policies that forbid women from going into combat zones. She’s portrayed in a way that is very likable and capitalizes on the strengths of Winslet’s screen presence. Also impressive is Andy Samberg as fellow photojournalist Davy Scherman. Samberg’s career has primarily been in comedy but he proves a good dramatic actor as well especially in the final portion of the film in which Lee and Davy encounter the Nazi death camps. This part of the film is filled with dread and a sense that these characters have witnessed a moral catastrophe that goes beyond the typical violence of combat. These scenes are staged effectively and Winslet and Samberg convey the trauma of their experience.
What Doesn’t: As a World War II film, Lee doesn’t show us much that we haven’t already seen. The Holocaust has been the subject of a lot of movies (Winslet previously starred in The Reader) and Lee doesn’t add much to the pantheon of films about that topic. The film hints at the impact of witnessing the horrors of war and genocide but without a further point. Lee and Davy are disturbed by what they’ve seen and publishers are initially reticent to print Lee’s pictures. We’re informed through on-screen text at the end that her pictures shaped our understanding of the Holocaust but there is no further exploration of the importance of witnessing these horrors. The filmmakers of Lee sometimes struggle with the tone. The film shifts from heavy dramatic moments in which Lee witnesses the horrors of war to lighter scenes in which she is reunited with her partner (Alexander Skarsgård). The clashes in tone play awkwardly. The filmmakers also use a frame narrative in which Lee, now an old woman, is interviewed about her life and career. The narrative device doesn’t add much to the film. The interrogation is redundant, addressing issues that are already obvious from the drama. It’s a forced way of delivering exposition that the film doesn’t need.
Bottom Line: Lee is an uneven film. Some parts of it are quite strong and it has a couple of very good performances by Kate Winslet and Andy Samberg. It’s also frustratingly on the cusp of saying something provocative about the importance of witnessing the horrors of the world but it doesn’t quite get there.
Episode: #1031 (January 12, 2025)