W. «««
PG-13, 131m., 2008
Cast & Credits: Josh Brolin (George W. Bush), Elizabeth Banks (Laura Bush), James Cromwell (George H.W. Bush), Ellen Burstyn (Barbara Bush), Thandie Newton (Condoleeza Rice), Ioan Gruffudd (Tony Blair), Rob Corddry (Ari Fleischer), Scott Glenn (Donald Rumsfeld), Jeffery Wright (Colin Powell), Richard Dreyfuss (Dick Cheney), Bruce McGill (George Tenet), Toby Jones (Karl Rove). Screenplay by Stanley Weiser. Directed by Oliver Stone.
When it comes to President George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in March 2003, I have always compared it to a deleted scene in Francis Ford Coppola’s re-edited extended nine hour plus compilation of The Godfather: The Complete Epic (1902-1980).
The scene in particular I refer to is the one between Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone and his father Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) after Michael’s return from exile in Italy. Michael questions the Don’s decision not to exact out any revenge for the death of his brother, Sonny, and the attempted assassination attempts on him and Michael while he was in Sicily.
"I swore I would keep the peace,” the Don tells him.
With Michael now installed as the new head of the Mafia crime family, however, the younger son assures his father he’ll carry out the kind of violent justice the now much older, more frail Don can no longer bring himself to do.
I wasn’t at all surprised to see a similar scene play out in director Oliver Stone’s W.; his chronicle of our current president’s life and his decision to invade Iraq in 2003. When Father Bush (41), George H.W. (James Cromwell) talks of how easy it would have been to simply take Iraqi President Saddam Hussein out at the conclusion of the first successful Gulf War instead of just getting his armies out of Kuwait, it reminded me of Don Corleone’s decision to call a truce between the New York crime families after years of bloodshed.
If you believe Stone’s and screenwriter Stanley Weiser’s version of such events, it was the elder Bush’s decision to not take out Hussein that led to his losing to then Democratic Presidential nominee Bill Clinton in 1992, in addition to the troubled economy.
As the elder Bush sat with his family in shock at the election results, his son, “junior” George W. Bush (Josh Brolin) furiously tells his wife, Laura (Elizabeth Banks), how he wished his father had listened to him when he suggested he have American troops go in and take Hussein out, vowing that if he were elected president, he won't make the same mistake.
Like Stone, who has never been in support of Gulf War II, I too, have always questioned our involvement in Iraq dating back to the first Gulf War. I still believe both Gulf Wars have mostly been about getting control of the oil. Though I do agree something had to be done to get Hussein out of power, I don’t believe he had anything to do with 9/11, or that he had “weapons of mass destruction” no matter how many times I hear it from “THE HARD RIGHT” (Conservative talk-show hosts Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity among them and a few Hard Right-wing friends of mine) that he did have WMDs. Even if Hussein didn’t, did it still give justification for us to invade a country at the cost of now over 4,000 American servicemen at all, simply because the possibility existed that he “might” one day get them?
The argument goes both ways. One could say, "If we’re going to police Iraq, then maybe we should go in then and start wars with Iran and North Korea and stop them and anyone else who wants to create nuclear weapons." Countries of whom, we see in Stone’s W. that our 43rd president and his staff have a hard time coming up with a good name for before finally settling on “Axis of Evil.”
Such are the kind of debates and questions I would have gladly welcomed with open arms in W. Unfortunately W. lacks the powerful dramatic dose of albeit questionable but juicy exaggerations we’ve seen in a number of Stone’s more memorably twisted renditions of past events. Something a few of his recent films have lacked. No matter what version you watch, Alexander (2004) was an ambitious, expensive historical three hour plus bore. Although World Trade Center (2006) showed Stone can turn a national tragedy into a personal one about two port authority officers trapped under tons of concrete of what used to be the Twin Towers, I couldn’t get away from the idea that this was more of a TV disaster movie of the week.
Because of my preconceived notions about how Bush (43) decided to go into Iraq and that I don’t agree with us going in to begin with, most everything seen in W., whether it be truthful or fabricated, doesn’t come as a surprise. It’s hard to get upset at Vice President Dick Cheney’s (Richard Dreyfuss) outline of what a postwar Iraq would be once American forces have secured the country. When one of Bush’s advisers asks Cheney if there is an exit plan, the vice president’s response is there isn’t one. We are there forever. As if we didn’t know this already, regardless of who is elected president this November.
I know there are a lot of people, those in particular who hate "Dubya", who see this movie will no doubt accept it as history. W. is not history. It’s nothing more than entertainment. The only reason it is controversial is because Stone’s name is attached to the film. The best thing about it is Josh Brolin’s lead role. Unlike Anthony Hopkins performance as Richard Nixon from Stone’s 1995’ film where it took a while to be convinced who you were looking at on screen was not an Oscar winning English actor but “Tricky Dick”, Brolin literally intoxicates himself into the role. I am not just talking about those scenes where he is often seen downing alcohol from his hard drinking party days pledging a fraternity and drunken brawls with his father to when he finds Jesus and receives a holy vision from the Lord who wants him to become president of the United States.
Whereas Hopkins’ Nixon went through his presidency trying to be as popular as JFK, Brolin’s “Dubya” is, to quote the title song from one of The Beatles, a “Nowhere Man.” When he isn’t busy standing out in center field of Rangers stadium catching imaginary fly balls and embracing the ghostly cheers of adoring crowds from empty seats, “W” just wants is to gain approval from Big Daddy Bush, and get out from under the shadow of his brother, Jeb, who the father has a much higher regard for.
The rest of the cast play their “required” roles so perfectly that we are almost fooled into thinking the events actually did happen. Among the standouts are Elizabeth Banks’ Laura Bush. She shows us an educated future first lady who would probably be better off being in love with someone else but is smitten by W. who she calls a “devil in a white hat.” Jeffrey Wright’s Colin Powell is portrayed as the administration’s lone Doubting Thomas who in private doesn’t agree with going into Iraq but still promotes his boss’ war plan before the United Nations.
Dreyfuss’ Cheney is like a general who will never admit that no WMDs were in Iraq, even after getting verification from a top official that none could be found. Cromwell’s Father Bush is seen as a patriarch who finds it easy to acknowledge his son’s failures but when given the chance to show his approval, the most he can do is write “Dubya” a congratulatory letter. Finally, as Bush’s personal campaign adviser, Toby Jones’ “The Architect” Karl Rove is the equivalent of Don Vito and Michael Corleone’s “consigliere”, lawyer Tom Hagen, from The Godfather’s I and II (1972), (1974), always seen sitting in the background at top meetings and often ready to give his boss a quick critique of his performance.
For a movie about a current president in office for eight years, W., which clocks in at a little over two hours just doesn’t quite have the three-hour plus epic scope of Nixon (1995) or an engrossing who-done-it murder mystery that JFK (1991) was. I kept thinking Stone and screenwriter Weiser, who collaborated on Wall Street (1987) had more to say. I have a feeling that will come early next year on DVD and Blu-ray if Stone has plans for a lengthier extended version of W.
W. probably would have played better if the movie had been made decades from now after both Bush (41) and (43) had passed on, where a controversial director like Stone could offer us his assessment of what he thinks “Dubya’s” legacy is to history.
It’s hard to see decades from now how history will judge President George W. Bush’s eight years in office. I am reminded of a quote Paul Sorvino’s Henry Kissinger said to Hopkins’ Nixon on the eve of the president’s resignation from office.
"History will treat you far more kindly than your contemporaries,” Kissinger says.
Judging from who is going to win the presidency this November, many see “W” as a president who led us into an unpopular, if not misguided or unnecessary war, who is just as guilty for allowing 9/11 to happen as President Clinton's administration (1992-2000) was for doing nothing about pursuing the terrorists for eight years previous, and who allowed the economy to sink leaving Americans hopelessly questioning whether we are headed to another depression of 1929.
Whether that will be how history views “Dubya” remains to be seen. The most I can say about Oliver Stone’s W. is nod in agreement when our current president is asked by a reporter what place will he see himself in history.
"History?” W. asks. “In history we’ll all be dead.”
I cannot agree more.
©10/18/08
