The Last Face

When Robin Wright was married to Sean Penn, she optioned this concept as a “passion project,” involving both Penn and Javier Bardem, but funding fell through. After Wright and Penn divorced, Penn obtained the property and cast his then-fiancée, Charlize Theron, in the role Wright had wanted. Unfortunately, Penn is so besotted with Theron's beauty that he rapturously photographs her like a glamorous fashion model, not the altruistic doctor she plays, diluting the veracity of this fragmented, savagely realistic depiction of war-ravaged people. The melodramatic plot revolves around Dr. Wren Petersen (Theron)—uptight daughter of the famous humanitarian founder of Médecins du Monde—who meets roguish surgeon Miguel Leon (Bardem) at a Monrovian refugee camp. Sparks ignite! “Before I met Miguel, I was an idea I had. I didn't really exist,” she muses. Years later, when Wren has become director of an international aid agency, their paths cross again in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and South Sudan, where Wren joins Miguel and his blood-soaked cohorts (Jean Reno, Jared Harris) as they desperately try to save lives amid barbarism. In his first directorial effort since 2007's Into the Wild, Penn relies on Erin Dignam's shallow, preachy script, which is filled with whispered, often incoherent dialogue. While a prologue notes the “impossible brutality” of the West African conflict, Penn focuses on the love between a man and woman, as if the stench of death were some kind of an aphrodisiac. A gruesome, disappointing film, this is not recommended. (S. Granger)