I saw Oliver Stone's new film, W., over the weekend. In the triptych of Stone's presidential biopics, I loved Nixon. The acting was remarkable, all of the technical elements were strong. Nixon himself was the worthiest of subjects for Stone's unique brand of analysis. JFK's assassination needed clarity, not jump cuts and bad make-up, muddled characterizations and operatic plotting. Not even Kevin Costner's compelling summation speech could reorder the confusion of the film's proposals. Stone is so talented, he almost made even conspiracy theorists, myself included, buy it. (Read James Ellroy's American Tabloid for another, more compelling take on JFK's murder.)
W. is a good film. Stone's camera work is almost sedate compared to the two other films. Perhaps that reflects the blithe nature of the subject. The acting is very good. James Cromwell as HW. Richard Dreyfuss, Thandie Newton, Bruce McGill, Scott Glenn, et al. working hard to bring to life the most suffocatingly closed off White House administration in our history. The W. White House makes Nixon's crowd look like the Loud family. Josh Brolin does great work here. Bush is a man done in as much by misplaced virility as he is by anti-intellectualism and the bitter resentments that are the hallmark of alcoholism, treated or otherwise. Brolin hits every note beautifully and only grows stronger as the film goes on. His only problem is that people simply want Bush to go. They are too exhausted to discuss his legacy now. Bush himself made sure of that.
The real treat here is Stacy Keach. Keach plays Earl Hudd, the fictitious evangelical who helps Bush get sober and find God (and, as a result, a Middle East policy). When Keach speaks, you get it. If Keach were around during my darkest times, I would have signed on with him myself. Keach has played every type of role there is in his wonderful career. He brings a truth and clarity to his scenes that actually pull the film together.
See W. for Josh, for Stone's enduring talents and for the truly great Stacy Keach.
One of the most important questions would be asking WHY so many people voted for this idiot in the first place. It isn't enough to point out that many rural and/or non-college educated people voted for Bush - WHY would so many middle-class Americans vote for someone who doesn't care about them in the first place?
On a side note I would like to point out that polls show most college-educated white people support Obama while many NON-college educated white people support McCain. Makes you think, does it not?
why make this movie???
FAILED
FAILED
FAILED
FAILED
FAILED
FAILED
FAILED
FAILED
FAILED
No one wants to tell a idiot, he never makes any sense.
As to WMDs. The movie portrays Cheney as almost a father figure to Bush. When Cheney speaks there is no further discussion. Cheney says there are WMDs, Bush believes there are WMDs. I think they do a good job of capturing Bush' leadership style which is very passive aggressive. His advisers are rewarded for agreeing with him and punished for disagreeing. Presenting inconvenient facts thus becomes a matter of disloyalty.
In the end, Bush is portrayed as crestfallen when the final WMD report comes in. Cheney is incredulous. Rumsfield smirks. Condi sputters. Rove calculates. Powell looks embarrassed. But, I believe the movie shows this as a case of Bush being hoisted by his own petard. He punished people when they challenged his world view, so he never perceived the world as it truly was. Ultimately, that is a stark personal failure.
What is best about the movie is that we know what is just to come! It ends just at the re-election. Bush' greatest failures are just around the corner. Bush is beaten down, really shook up, by the failures in Iraq. And that's just the beginning! His failures will soon be legion!
If the movie were more acerbic, or satirical, or funny, I would have gone.
Somehow Mr. Stone lost his nerve on this one.
Two Observations: 1) The movie was too short to fully capture the extent of his failures. No Katrina, Harriet Miers, Swift Boating, Global Warming, Fiscal Meltdown, Corporate Malfeasance, Stem Cells, etc. etc. 2) Although I always knew that Dubya was never qualified to be president, and I knew about all his gaffes and idiotic policies, I STILL found it hard to believe that he is as stupid as he was made out to be in the movie.
I liked the movie best for the one realization that this is how future future generations, including my own daughters, will remember of George W. Bush and his legacy.