Day 134: JFK

"Back, and to the left..."

I love me a damn good conspiracy theory. It’s not that they’re entirely realistic, but that they offer a different view on reality that’s seeded in our deepest worries. Is the government out to get me? Does the Illuminati actually exist? Perhaps that last one is farfetched or just idiotic, but nonetheless, conspiracy theories fuel what would otherwise be a flavorless debate on a questionable event in history. This is even more so when one considers that conspiracy theories themselves set forth their own kind of narrative. No one seemingly knows this more than writer/director Oliver Stone who, through his most impressive work, has spouted controversial sermons with guile. With films like Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July, Stone doesn’t shy away from his political beefs. Despite his political candor, Stone is at his best when he puts on his conspiracy theory detective guise in his three hour opus titled JFK. As you can imagine, assuming you’ve peeked your eyes into a history book, the title references America’s 35th president, John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was seen as a leader during a turbulent time, but his steadfast leadership has been overshadowed by his shocking assassination.

Lee Harvey Oswald is seen as the number one culprit behind JFK’s untimely death, but with there being so many leaps of logic and questionable inaccuracies in the investigation following JFK’s death, it’s hard for some not to wonder about all of the possibilities. Not being afraid to tackle political oversights, Stone dives head first into the collection of evidence and witnesses that have gestated for decades. With evidence in hand, Stone hurls us back to 1966, three years removed from JFK’s assassination. There we’re introduced to Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner), New Orleans District Attorney who, after reading the Warren Commission and re-interviewing many of the Kennedy Assassination witnesses, sniffs the dead stench of a cover-up. Seen as kind of an aloof and misguided fellow by those around him, Garrison digs deeper and deeper until he finds that the path to Kennedy’s murder is littered with New Orlean’s businessmen, male prostitutes, and  Vice President Lyndon B Johnson.

With his desire to find the truth, Garrison marches on through death threats, political snafus, and family dissonance. It’s self righteous in some respects, but Costner installs a sense of earnestness in Garrison that ultimately makes him a humble figure fighting in the public’s best interest. Surrounding Garrison is an assortment of colorful characters who emanate from the stoops of the White House as well as the swamps of the Bayou. Filling in the shoes of these somewhat historical figures are Hollywood heavyweights who match Stone’s kinetic direction. Gary Oldman, in a chilling performance, has arguably the most grounded performance as Lee Harvey Oswald. Everything about Oldman’s physical representation shouts shady, but Oldman’s performance suggests that something far more sinister lies beneath as his eyes succumb to paranoia. Rounding out the cast is Tommy Lee Jones, Sissy Spacek, Kevin Bacon,  Jack Lemmon, and a head turning performance by John Candy, just to name a few. What a colorful cast for a colorful film that is brimming with possibilities.

Assisting our descent  into the exhaustive research and determination of Garrison is Stone’s deft ability of blending archival footage within the film itself. This not only works as a means for historical context and an extension of Garrison’s evidence, but also a reconstruction of Kennedy’s assassination to the point that we can determine our own theory as if we were on the grassy knoll ourselves. Now, the caveat going into this film is that Stone does take some liberties with the facts or evidence that have been found by various parties. Thus it’d be a bit egregious on our part to treat the evidence found in JFK as if it was one hundred percent accurate. Despite the potential malformation by Stone, his interest and wonder in the JFK inaccuracies allows for one hell of a story to be crafted. All of which ends on a high note as Costner gives one of the most stirring monologues I've seen on film. It’s at this moment we realize that the film isn't about proving a theory right. Instead, it’s about the right as an American to dig at the burning questions that haunt our halls of our past.