Redford, Cruise brood over war

to look at the sacrifice of US soldiers, the relationship between politics and the media, and the need for young Americans to take a stand.­

The first strand has an up-and-coming Republican senator, played by Cruise, trying to sell an 'exclusive' over Washington's new strategy in the war in Afghanistan to a television journalist, interpreted by Meryl Streep.­

Meanwhile in California, Redford is a university professor confronting a gifted but lazy student to shake him out of political apathy.­ Thousands of miles away, in Afghanistan, two US soldiers who used to be Redford's students are part of a small advance group sent out into the mountains to fight the Taliban.­

Presenting his film in Rome on Tuesday, Redford, who returned to the director's seat after a seven year break, was candid about his views but said 'Lions for Lambs' did not attempt to give answers and only raised questions.­

"Our country has hit a point where we have lost so much we have lost lives, we have lost sacred freedoms, we have lost financial stability, we've lost our position of respect on the world stage. For me the film is about the effect and the consequences of the last several years in my country and how that plays out in the area of the media, education and politics," he told reporters