Oliver Stone is one of the
greatest filmmakers of our
time. He has done fabulous
movies such as Platoon, a frightening
and very real look into the war
in Vietnam, JFK, an analysis
on the tragic assassination of
John Kennedy and Nixon, a
portrait of the deeply flawed man
who would be the first president
to resign from office. Now he aims
to portray one of the most
infamous and controversial
presidents in our lifetime:
George W. Bush.
W. begins with Bush in an
empty baseball field. Cheers
can bee heard slowly growing
in volume from nowhere, and
as they escalate, Bush (Josh Bro
lin) slowly raises his arms as if
in triumph. Among the cheering
a large voice can be heard
introducing him as the 43rd
president of the United States.
The next scene is a disturbing
picture of young men waist
deep in tubs full of ice with
funnels full of alcohol in their
mouths, attempting to recite
all the names they know of
in the fraternity that is hazing
them. As Bush is being smacked
by the paddle and force fed by
Jack Daniels, he somehow manages
to say every single brother’s
name in the fraternity, and therefore
passes the hazing. Another
scene has Bush presiding over
a heated debate with his top
advisers, people like Condoleezza
Rice (Thandie Newton),
Dick Cheney (Richard Dreyfuss),
and Colin Powel (Jeffery
Wright) among others, about
whether or not to enter into
a war with Iran. These first couple
of scenes set us up or a look
into the life of George W. Bush.
What I like about this
movie right off the bat was how
likeable Bush was played out
to be. He had this “aw shucks”
way about him that was so
disarming, even when he
was messing up he looked amiable,
like those sour and and
sweet gummy bears that turn
your tongue the first time
you bite into them, but then
add their sweet flavor, Josh
Brolin did a very nice job
depicting this character.
But, it wasn’t so much the
actor that brought out this
likeability I found in Bush, it
was the way Oliver Stone painted
his portrait. Stone tried as
best as he could to remain
as unbiased as possible and I think
he did a good job. This movie
wasn’t meant to rag on Bush, it
was simply to examine how
he manage to come from being
an alcoholic troublemaker
to becoming the president
of the United States.
That being said, I would
give this movie an awesome
rating of four out of five stars.
Anit Bush’s will love it, but Bush
lovers might not like it so much.