JFK (1991)

Starring: Kevin Costner, Sissy Spacek, Joe Pesci, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Oldman, Kevin Bacon Script: Oliver Stone, Zachary Sklar (based on books by Jim Marrs and Jim Garrison) Cinematographer: Robert Richardson Director: Oliver Stone Plot:  Three years after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, a District Attorney launches his own investigation and becomes obsessed with finding the truth behind what he believes was a vast conspiracy involving elements inside the government.

Review:

Continuing director Stone's (Platoon, Salvador) interest in showing modern movie-goers the pulse of the '60s, JFK presents an ambitious re-examination of the Kennedy assassination, an event that still haunts the American public.

The film is not about what happened, or how, or who, it is about its main character's obsession, and Stone's, with asking important questions and finding the truth.

The film bursts at the seams with ideas, offering up a disturbingly persuasive view of the events leading to, and the following cover-up of, the JFK assassination. All the popular elements make their way here, from the "magic bullet", to the shots from the grassy knoll, to Oswald's Russian trip, to the links with anti-Castro forces, the mob, and the military-industrial complex, as well as not-so-well known facts, all presented as one large, vast, convoluted conspiracy. 

The way all the snippets of fact, testimony, rumor, and theory is jostled into a single, all-encompassing conspiracy may be complete and utter fabrication, but in the end that's not the point. The film isn't looking for a final explanation as to what really happened that fateful day; what it wants to evoke is the bewilderment, the anger of a whole country and point out the ludicrousness of the Warren Commission Report's finding that Oswald acted alone. And in that it succeeds brilliantly: even those unconvinced by the theory purported here will come away with the conviction that something isn't right with the "official" version of events.

Indeed, there are so many characters, so many connections to be told, that it's almost impossible to keep it all straight, and yet the virtuoso script manages to keep everything, through the years, the mountains of facts and testimonials, accessible.

Stone manages to capture the pervasive unease and paranoia of the times in every shot, in every interaction, bringing a subtle creeping tension as things progress.

Of course, as all dramatized stories are, the film takes liberties with these "real" people and the events that surrounded them, but Costner, as Garrison, the focal point of the movie, the symbol of the American frustration, plays his role well with down-to-earth charm and all the likability he can muster. Pesci plays the weasel with surprising energy, and Gary Oldman, as Oswald, is downright eerie. 

The rest of the huge cast is a veritable who's-who of Hollywood, filled with an eclectic cast of familiar faces (including the likes of Donald Sutherland, Jack Lemmon, Kevin Bacon, Tommy Lee Jones, etc.) all playing their roles (sometimes no more than cameos) to perfection, their casting itself a tribute to the pull of the director. 

The only moments when the film loses steam (and these are rare) are when the story turns to the attorney's family life: these may be important moments to show the obsession of the man crusading for a truth he might never attain, but they represent a tone of melodrama that is not up to the rest of the proceedings. 

Despite the extended length of the film, the filmmakers have an uncanny ability to suck you into the story, into the complex web of conspiracies, ideas, lies, and half-truths, assembling a series of flash-backs, conjectures, testimonies into a comprehensive whole that fascinates and makes the time fly by.

Technically, as well, the film is an absolute marvel:

The production values are high and quite impressive, easily bringing us back into another time.

The award-winning cinematography is terrific, from elaborate shots to scenic ones, the dynamic camera makes even the extended conversations, all necessary for such a huge amount of exposition, interesting to look at

The editing, something that usually goes unnoticed, is fast and imaginative in its cuts, mixing archive documentary and broadcasts (like the Zapruder film) with recreations, creating a series of fast-paced flashbacks and flash-forwards that keeps you on your toes.

Finally, the directing is simply first-rate - Stone has never been in better form than he is here.

All these things combine to create a fast-paced production that keeps audiences on the edge of their seat, one that on a purely intellectual and cinematic level is as stimulating and exciting as any Hollywood thriller.

In presenting so much information with so much passion, in trying to raise our attention and cast our doubts on the government version of events, JFK is a towering achievement in filmmaking not for its concepts or truths but in its technique and its vision. More so than his Oscar-winning Platoon, this is Stone's masterpiece.

Drama: 9/10

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