You will find it rare that I would review a movie on my blog, but I knew that I would write about this movie or have some strong feelings about it the moment I heard it was being made. I do not come from a hugely savvy political standpoint as much as I do a woman with a natural, inherent fascination with artists who are compelled to document, so closely - and try so hard- to portray the life of an individual. I think it takes a lot of balls because, with so much speculation it could either be a huge success or a horrible failure. I can't say this film was either one for me. What elements of GW Bush as a man, a President, was Stone so driven to expose and convince us of? And how would the mainstream American public leave the theater feeling about the Bush administration as a whole? I think a huge portion of the public do not really understand the horrors of his last eight years in office and I think many people hope this film will teach them, in a fun, soundtrack filled two and a half hour romp. I made it a point not to read any of the reviews, so my viewpoint could be unbiased, as naive or unschooled as it may be. As I prepared to watch it, I pretty much had an idea what I was in for, with this being an Oliver Stone film (remember The Doors, Born on the Fourth of July, Wall Street, Platoon, JFK, Nixon, etc...). A politically, socially and 'of the times' charged script with an easy to follow cut from scene to scene and always a clever,constantly present and very intentional, well thought out soundtrack. These things always make it easy to digest his films.
If you know nothing about Bush, here is the first Presidential impression that Stone gives you with the obvious intention of making it stick:
Speech Writer: How about Axis of Terror?
Bush: Don't get cute, the word terror would scare people anyway.
SW: What about Axis of Evil?
Bush: (pacing the room and biting his nails) Now that I like, it's got a ring to it.
'A ring to it'- what a fucking line. And if you don't think to yourself 'oh shit, what an idiot, he doesn't know what he is doing'- which I can't imagine Stone DOESN'T want you to think, then Stone hasn't grabbed you. This scene is followed by a flashback to his college days pledging for a fraternity and having Jack Daniels poured down his throat. This is followed by the next scene which has him lunching with Dick Cheney being briefed on WOMD as he sloppily and aggressively eats a bologna sandwich and guzzles, and I mean purposefully, guzzles a Dr. Pepper. See where I am going with this this? From drunken frat boy to a White House lunch briefing on war tactics and chemical weaponry, with the image and actions of a frat boy still very present in your mind and apparent by his over the top body language and line delivery scene to scene. The whole film is pieced together so as to make you feel as if Bush was just this 'guy' who, stumble upon stumble, ended up in the White House- like Alice through the Looking Glass. (I kind of agree with this theory by the way) Stone makes him consistently insecure, sarcastic, flippant, narcissistic, and don't even get me started on the whole 'father and son' relationship which paints him to be a simple psychological breakdown of the boy who just wanted to constantly please a father that he is always disappointing. You know the old 'living in his shadow' cliche. Stone has Brolin play the character as just that : a cliched portraylof a faulted man who should never have become President.
It was ok, but too simplistic and candy coated a script that it became almost satirical to me.
I hope that I am right about Oliver Stone's intention with his portrayal of Bush. He wanted to give the public an easy way to, at the same time, be entertained and yet horrified by what we have done as a collective society by voting such a person into office. He used a reverse physcology by making you see and hear one thing, yet as a whole wanted to make you feel another. If this makes any sense. He wants you to either feel a little sorry for Bush or think he is an idiot , but at the end he wants you to be convinced that this man has, simply put, made a terrible mess of things. Stone is good with this kind of tortured soul, this fumbling through life kind of man (there is a great line that Val Kilmer- as Jim Morrison- has at the beginning of Stone's biopic the Doors "I am just a tortured clown who gets thing right for a minute and then messes them up in the end") and he is good at bringing it out in his actors. I have to applaud Josh Brolin for his outstanding job impersonating Bush. There were times where I purposefully closed my eyes and I could have sworn I was listening to GW. He did a brilliant job in my opinion. Also to be noted, Richard Dreyfus portrays a smarmy, slimy Dick Cheney brilliantly. Curious to see who might get an Oscar nod.
**Whomever played Condoleeza Rice was cast terribly wrong. Be prepared to be annoyed by this character..
***And big final applause to one of my favorite elements of the film--listen for it- it's brilliant. Stone's use of the original theme to Robin Hood throughout the movie ("with a cap in his hat, he comes to save the day......")which plays for mere seconds during any scenes prior to Bush taking the podium. This, I thought, was clever and HILARIOUS!
Definitely worth seeing, but go in expecting a satire, not a true and serious documentary. And it is always fun to see an Oliver Stone character portrayal from a psychological point of view- if you areas interested in that kind of thing as much as I am.
PS There are 3 people in particular that I know of who read my blog and are extremely political. I'm very much looking forward to their reviews, they should be good. I will re-blog them if, and when, they are posted.
