JFK

365 Films

 Entry #7

JFK (1991)

Directed by Oliver Stone

Holy mother of god is this movie fantastic and I have no shame in making such a statement. Nor do I have any problem admitting that movie is perhaps 99.9% bullshit, or that it might as well be the ravings of an ill-informed tea party-truther standing on a street corner.  I simply do not give a shit about any of that. This is one of the most ambitious, massively scaled, and flat out enthralling studio films ever made. I have heard the film referred to as a big budget experimental avant-garde art project and I would not disagree. The arsenal of cinematic tricks that Oliver Stone has at his disposal has never been put to better use (by him or maybe any director attempting something similar). What Stone has done here, with a merciless skill for presentation, is put you in the mindset of a conspiracy theorist. It’s a maddening place full of swirling, contradictory ideas and often-hallucinatory conclusions as the end result.  It’s intoxicating and no matter what you believe, by the end of JFK, Stone has convinced you of something. You might call that propaganda, but since the film pushes no clear solution, I find that to be a dubious charge. I think what Stone is getting at here is a generational disillusionment that kicked in after the most turbulent events of the 1960’s. The kind of disillusionment that produces far-flung, wacked-out theories about 11 dimensional chess moves being operated by all sectors of the government that act as a protective blanket for most rational explanations for real world horrors.  If you read about any man made or natural disaster in the last 30 years, you will also read about a guy who knows “the truth.” JFK documents the beginning of that collective agreement to live in denial.  But it's also about the noble pursuit of truth and justice in the face of incredible bureaucratic obstruction.  Where do you draw the line between obsession and what's really there in front of you?  Much to the contrary of the film's detractors, I believe Stone is asking a question, not making any kind of black and white case.  If this all sounds like a big dose of downer, fear not, for Stone had made an absolutely entertaining movie.  One could argue that beneath all the rage and rants, Stone has actually made a Frank Capra movie.  Watch Costner do his best Jimmy Stewart impression in the closing arguments as the prosecution for the trial.  As a result, the film never tastes like bitter medicine, just look at the parade of amazing character actors popping in and out of the film. Try not to watch the Mr. X monologue without your jaw dropping to the floor.  The amount of visual material with which the film arms itself is head spinning.  This is the kind of film where one sits back and marvels at a group of incredibly talented craftsmen working in harmonious synchronicity, as they produce with effortless grace what can only be described as a masterpiece.