Delayed Reaction: JFK

Premise: A conspiracy theorist’s account of the JFK assassination.

 

This is actually my second time watching this movie. The first was when I was in high school. It’s a funny story. I had to do a book report on a JFK biography. I didn’t really want to read the book though. The Saturday when I was supposed to read the book, I noticed there was a History Channel program about JFK’s presidency then, right as that was ending, the Oliver Stone JFK was airing on HBO. So, I thought I was set without ever needing to open the book. As you can imagine, I was doing a lot of reading and writing that Sunday once I realized my mistake. I tell this story because I made the same mistake that many who watch JFK do: I thought it was trying to be accurate.

 

The truth about JFK is that it’s closer to Inglorious Basterds than, say, Schindler’s List. JFK is a confidently told fabrication*. Oliver Stone made it too well. I watch the movie and believe it all. That’s what makes it an excellent movie and a dangerous movie. Like the old Western says “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend”. A lie told convincingly is more effective than a truth told poorly. That’s the meta-text of JFK. The government did such a bad job of making sense of the JFK murder that people like Oliver Stone (and his source material) can construct a story of their own.

 

*If it isn’t clear, I don’t buy any of the large conspiracy theories about the JFK assassination. I think the truth of it is more mundane than the enormity of the result. That’s often how things go.

 

I’m not saying that JFK created the conspiracy around the assassination. It’s absolutely a film responding to 25 years of speculation. What I’m saying is that I’m a person watching the movie nearly 60 years after the assassination who doesn’t doubt that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, yet I still came out of this movie checking Wikipedia just to be sure. I don’t know how I can praise this movie any more than that. It’s 3 hours that breezes by. The cast is outstanding and huge. Donald Sutherland’s scene is standout. I really just don’t have a complaint about the content of the movie. My only complaint is what the film is in service to.

 

Verdict: Strongly Recommend