Who do you think you are...a Kennedy? You're a Bush. Act like one.
W. (2008)
Starring Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Banks, Richard Dreyfuss, James Cromwell, Ellen Burstyn, Scott Glenn, Jeffrey Wright, Thandie Newton
Written by Stanley Weiser
Producers: Bill Block, Moritz Borman, & Oliver Stone
Cinematography: Phedon Papamichael
Distributed by Lionsgate
After taking a break from making political dramas, Oliver Stone jumped right back in with the most unique of film experiments ... presenting a drama about a U.S. President who was still in office at the time of the film's release. Without the many years of perspective that could possibly result in a much different film, Oliver Stone rushed his film about President George W. Bush into production in one of the largest scale examples of what can be done when talented filmmakers work quickly. He began filming it in May of 2008, and by October of 2008 ... just a couple of weeks before the election to decide who would succeed Bush ... the film was completed and released.
It creates an interesting experience watching this film when so many of the characters and events are not only still fresh and vivid in your mind, but also still running the country. Oliver Stone has said that the effects of what George W. Bush has done during his eight years in the White House will have to be dealt with for many years to come, and that's a very true statement. As George W. Bush prepared to leave the White House with some of the lowest approval ratings for a President in all of history, Stone wanted to present an exploration of the man to perhaps understand him better. In films like Platoon and Wall Street, you could sense the very strong personal connection that Stone presented in those films, and here you miss that a bit, but that's because George W. Bush is not a man like Stone (they interestingly were in the same class together at college), and in many ways, he's a man that none of us have really understood before this film. Stone does a very admirable job of really presenting a balanced and even somewhat sympathetic portrait of the President, showing how the struggles with his father for acceptance really fueled a lot of what he ended up doing when he became President.
Stone uses a similar story structure that he employed to great effect in Nixon by fracturing the narrative, and letting the film go back and forth in time between Bush's upbringing and early failures in his life, to the administration of his first term in office with the planning of the war in Iraq. Besides the fractured narrative, it remains a somewhat conventional biopic, showing the early days of W's problems with alcoholism and trying to find a purpose to his life. Stone is definitely in his element in the scenes in the situation room in Washington showing the interior plotting for the war in Iraq. In fact, the scenes are downright chilling, especially to hear Dick Cheney (portrayed brilliantly by Richard Dreyfuss) discussing the complete takeover of the Middle East, and the way he stresses the word "Empire." In showing the family struggles that influenced W's life, Stone does actually bring the humanity to the guy, and you begin to maybe understand some of what drove him, even if it was narrow-minded, simple thinking about the world that got us into the huge mess we find ourselves in with his administration thankfully almost over. George W. Bush isn't the same kind of tragic figure that Richard Nixon was, so this film doesn't have the same kind of drama that the incredibly compelling Nixon had. Stone in fact shows us this fact about this character, ending the film with a press conference George W. Bush had, and when asked if he had made any mistakes, he couldn't come up with one. He's a man who truly doesn't think he makes mistakes, who truly believes in his religious conversion that saved him from alcoholism, and believes in a more simplistic version of the world. In this way, the tragedy is more about that kind of thinking and vision, and what that has since done to the country and the world under his administration, and not so much the tragedy of the man.
I was surprised to find a lot of focus in the film on the impact of his father, George H.W. Bush, another brilliant performance in the film, this one by James Cromwell. We experience the elder Bush's presidency through W's eyes, all the way up to the 1992 defeat for a second term by Bill Clinton. In Stone's eyes, we definitely see a strong impact on W as he feels he never can live up to "Poppy's" expectations. It seemed in the Bush family that W's brother Jeb (who later became governor of Florida) was the one being groomed more for success, and Stone concludes that this definitely did a lot to shape what kind of Presidency he ended up having.
With this film, Stone once again proves that he is almost unmatched in the ability to present very entertaining films discussing complex, political history. He makes his films engaging and entertaining, and with that skill, he is able to present an alternate side to George W. Bush that we don't often see in the media. The George W. Bush administration has been one of the most secretive in history, and it's good to finally get some kind of perspective to present some of what has happened in that White House, even if it is pretty quick for a major film to be made about his Presidency. And once again, Stone presents a cast of impeccable talent to bring this story to light. And this is especially true in the performance of Josh Brolin as George W. Bush. It could have so easily have dipped into silliness if he tried a straight impersonation, Brolin not only gets the mannerisms, the look, and the voice all down, but the depth of his performance is extraordinary. You truly do forget you're watching Brolin after a while, and he is very credible as Bush, much in the same way as Anthony Hopkins completely immortalized Richard Nixon in a performance of amazing depth.
With the exception of Thandie Newton who tries too hard to deliver an impression with her performance as Condeeleeza Rice, these actors all do amazing jobs at embodying these characters that we have seen so much over the past eight years. But this film really succeeds the most in the scenes in the situation rooms planning the war in Iraq, particularly in Jeffrey Wright's portrayal of Colin Powell, trying to be the one voice of reason and caution when everyone else was clamoring for a war in Iraq. If only that room could have had more voices of reason like his. Richard Dreyfuss's Cheney is almost haunting in his vision of a world fully dominated by America, and it's in these scenes where we most see the Oliver Stone of his previous political films, presenting the horror of our own leaders sometimes in ways that truly get you impassioned to say "How did we ever let these people get away with this?" Stone is almost unmatched in being able to show how man in his quest for power continues to interfere with the affairs of other men.
Visually, Stone seems to have moved beyond the rapid fire editing and visual flair that accompanied some of his films from the past, as the only thing really missing from this film is that signature style of Stone's. Stone continues to show that he is a dramatist first and foremost, trying to make sense of our recent political past. So while it may be very much like a conventional biopic, it stands apart in that it's a very passionate and intelligent filmmaker examining a part of our history that we find ourselves living in right at the moment. So I think it will be interesting to examine the film many years from now and see after the perspective of time, how much of this film really holds up. I think this is a film that can be viewed by both sides of the political aisle as he does maintain a pretty solid balance on examining George W. Bush, but in the end, I think you'll end up taking away whatever you already felt about Bush before you see it. George W. Bush and the way he won office ended up polarizing and dividing the country, particularly when the Republicans somehow magically proclaimed themselves as the party of Christianity and morality, so people still amazingly cling to his Presidency because they feel so attached because of this very reason. But when you think how his Presidency came to a close, how his own party's 2008 convention pretty much ignored him, how Republican crowds supporting John McCain for President would applaud when McCain said the last eight years haven't worked out too well, in a way by the end of this film you do feel some tragedy and empathy for George W. Bush ... but ultimately you should feel the larger tragedy that the United States and the world suffered because of Bush's demons.
It was also quite interesting to see Stone presenting a more contemporary political story, and particularly one that ends up dealing with another war. As Stone said in interviews around the time of this film, he made three films about the Vietnam War experience, viewed at the time as incredibly cautionary tales about the lessons we should learn from those times. And then to see the United States repeating those mistakes and getting embroiled in another war must be extremely sad and maddening from someone who really tried to present us with some valuable lessons through the art of film. In many ways, a lot of us thought that perhaps those lessons would be learned by those in power, but it seems some people lack the ability to learn from history.
After taking a break from making political dramas, Oliver Stone jumped right back in with the most unique of film experiments ... presenting a drama about a U.S. President who was still in office at the time of the film's release. Without the many years of perspective that could possibly result in a much different film, Oliver Stone rushed his film about President George W. Bush into production in one of the largest scale examples of what can be done when talented filmmakers work quickly. He began filming it in May of 2008, and by October of 2008 ... just a couple of weeks before the election to decide who would succeed Bush ... the film was completed and released.
In fact, the scenes are downright chilling, especially to hear Dick Cheney (portrayed brilliantly by Richard Dreyfuss) discussing the complete takeover of the Middle East, and the way he stresses the word "Empire." In showing the family struggles that influenced W's life, Stone does actually bring the humanity to the guy, and you begin to maybe understand some of what drove him, even if it was narrow-minded, simple thinking about the world that got us into the huge mess we find ourselves in with his administration thankfully almost over. George W. Bush isn't the same kind of tragic figure that Richard Nixon was, so this film doesn't have the same kind of drama that the incredibly compelling Nixon had. Stone in fact shows us this fact about this character, ending the film with a press conference George W. Bush had, and when asked if he had made any mistakes, he couldn't come up with one. He's a man who truly doesn't think he makes mistakes, who truly believes in his religious conversion that saved him from alcoholism, and believes in a more simplistic version of the world. In this way, the tragedy is more about that kind of thinking and vision, and what that has since done to the country and the world under his administration, and not so much the tragedy of the man.
With the exception of Thandie Newton who tries too hard to deliver an impression with her performance as Condeeleeza Rice, these actors all do amazing jobs at embodying these characters that we have seen so much over the past eight years. But this film really succeeds the most in the scenes in the situation rooms planning the war in Iraq, particularly in Jeffrey Wright's portrayal of Colin Powell, trying to be the one voice of reason and caution when everyone else was clamoring for a war in Iraq. If only that room could have had more voices of reason like his. Richard Dreyfuss's Cheney is almost haunting in his vision of a world fully dominated by America, and it's in these scenes where we most see the Oliver Stone of his previous political films, presenting the horror of our own leaders sometimes in ways that truly get you impassioned to say "How did we ever let these people get away with this?" Stone is almost unmatched in being able to show how man in his quest for power continues to interfere with the affairs of other men.