W. by Oliver Stone
A Lame Duck Film
By: Charles Giuliano - Nov 03, 2008
W.
Directed by Oliver Stone; Written by Stanley Weiser; Starring: Josh Brolin (George W. Bush), Elizabeth Banks (Laura Bush), James Cromwell (George H.W. Bush), Ellen Burstyn (Barbara Bush), Richard Dreyfuss (Richard Cheney), Jeffrey Wright (Colin Powell), Scott Glenn (Donald Rumsfeld), Thandie Newton (Condoleezza Rice), Toby Jones (Karl Rove), Bruce McGill (George Tenet).Lion's Gate Entertainment. Released October 17, 2008. Running Time, 129 minutes.
Now 62, Oliver Stone has been making films since his short "Last Year in Viet Nam" in 1971. Since then, he has directed, been involved as a screen writer, or made a cameo appearance in 29 films. In general, he has been known for taking big cuts at the plate, swinging for the fences by taking on epic topics- Vietnam, 9/11, Wall Street, Football- and the dominating political personalities of our time. He won an Academy Award for his take on Vietnam in "Platoon" (1986) but that film has come to be overshadowed by the more nuanced, 1979, Francis Ford Coppola masterpiece, "Apocalypse Now."
It seems typical of Stone's work that it has an initial impact but not much shelf life. In 1994, for example, a friend urged me to see "Natural Born Killers" which he declared with passion was a "masterpiece." It wasn't and in the subsequent argument we parted ways. In 1989 "Born on the Fourth of July" was notable for our first glimpse of Tom Cruise on the cusp of maturing as an actor. "Wall Street," in 1987, proved to be sticky, and in view of the recent greed and meltdown of the economy, is ripe for a sequel. "The Doors" (1991) was fun particularly, since at the time, I saw it in Amsterdam which evoked the proper mood. But too many of his films "J.F.K" (1991), "Nixon" (1995), "The Day Reagan Was Shot" (2001), "Heaven and Earth" (1993), "Any Given Sunday" (1999), or "World Trade Center" (2006), to mention a few of his films, after an initial splash, have not proved to command any holding power.
With the exception of "Wall Street," after an initial screening, there seems little of substance to induce repeated viewing. While his films are generally well crafted Stone does not prove to be a master of the medium. In that sense, his latest film "W." seems destined for the dust bin of memory as an ambitious but failed project.
There is so much wrong about "W." that the litany might fill a book. But we will spare you the dirge and cut to the chase. Such a flawed and mediocre effort hardly deserves an exegesis. For that we refer you to the plodding volumes by Bob Woodward who has left no Stone unturned on this subject.
Unfortunately, "W." is an important and worthy subject. Nearing the end of the eight years of his Presidency the nation is in shambles. While conservatives taunt liberals as "bleeding hearts who tax and spend" the corollary is that the Born Again, George W. Bush has worn his heart on his sleeve, while borrowing and spending the nation into a staggering debt that has bankrupted future generations. W. also dragged us into war on two fronts with no exit policy. He manipulated General Colin Powell, one of the few in his Cabinet with common sense, to take one for the team in selling the myth of "Weapons of Mass Destruction' to the U.N. Taking the advice of the Cabinet he failed to put sufficient Boots on the Ground during the Liberation of Iraq. It was wrongly anticipated that we would be welcomed with open arms.
There was a completely naive assessment of the disparate elements of the Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish agendas. Iraq was a nation that was created by drawing boundaries on a map. There is no historic, religious or cultural cohesion for this cobbled together nation. Saddam Hussein, with our initial help in his war with Iran, held Iraq together with brute force. With the collapse of his regime the fragile hegemony devolved into chaos. The alleged liberation of Iraq was capped by the stunt of W. landing on an aircraft carrier under a banner that declared "Mission Accomplished." In 2008, the "Mission" drags on with no end in sight.
Curiously, few of these anecdotal highlights have been included in Stone's film. Where is the deer in the headlights scene when Bush was informed of the World Trade Center attacks while reading a fairy tale to toddlers? Or the pratfall that followed when the Secret Service whisked Bush into hiding while Dick Cheney appeared to be in charge? Somehow, Stone opted for giving Bush more fair play than he deserved. He focuses more on the ravaged youth of W. growing up under a frosty and autocratic father, President George H.W. Bush (James Cromwell), and a sharp tongued, shrew of a mother, Barbara (Ellen Burstyn). His wife, Laura (Elizabeth Banks) is as much a smiling, one dimensional character on the silver screen as we have come to view her through the media.
The performance of W. by Josh Brolin has its moments, particularly as a drunken frat boy at Yale, and a roust about cowboy, but is not destined for any award nominations. Now and then Brolin gets the herky jerky cadence of W's fractured syntax, convoluted thought process, and stutter step speech. It is amazing that at least half of the nation, initially, bought into his good old boy, fundamentalist charisma. Not once, my friends (as McCain would say), but Twice. Significantly, W. is ending his Presidency with the lowest approval ratings (mid 20%) since before Nixon's resignation or Truman's during the unpopular Korean War. Apparently, you can't fool all of the people all of the time. Most of us will hold our breath that there is not yet another disaster during the final months of his lame duck Presidency. W. has already been added to the infamous short list of all time worst Presidents.
The most unfortunate aspect of this film is that it represents too little and too late. We are just a couple of months away from his return to the ranch in Crawford, Texas. By now, we know far too much about his personal history and failed political career. Stone's film comes at a time when it does little or nothing to shape opinion or provide valuable insight about all that was so terribly wrong with his leadership over the past four years. Having endured the Stone treatment Hollywood has given W. a free pass to return to the ranch with ersatz dignity and honor.
Where we hoped for insight and character Stone's film opted for caricature. Mostly it is a cartoon, but more Saturday Night Live than Gary Trudeau. The members of the Bush cabinet are played for laughs. Thandie Newton is particularly ludicrous as Condoleezza Rice. She does for Rice what Tina Fey has brilliantly concocted for Sarah Palin. The problem is that this was alleged to be a serious film. By comparison, Richard Dreyfuss brought just the right touch of evil to Vice President Dick Cheney.
For 129 minutes we waited for something of substance to happen. Stone owed it to us. But he proved to be fairer and more even handed to W. than to the audience. He created a farce of the notion of objectivity by leaving too many seminal moments and revealing anecdotes off the table. By creating a film about a subject we have all lived with the audience is too informed about what was left out. Many of us came to the film hoping for satisfaction if not revenge and were treated to a puff piece about a good old boy from Texas who drank and partied his way through Yale, somehow earned an MBA from Harvard, sat out Vietnam as an absentee weekend warrior in the Air National Guard, owned the Texas Rangers, found God, married Laura, and became President of the United States of America. Made a mess and will soon head back to the ranch.
Mr. Stone, in the name of the American people, we deserve better than that. Do us all a favor and don't bother, a few years from now, to make a film called "Obama." Or, good grief, "McCain." Amen. God bless America. Tomorrow we go to the polls to elect a new President. After which "W." will be truly irrelevant. Praise the Lord.