My review of the movie "Bobby"

[SeattleGirl]

MODS: This is a cross-post from the Lounge. I know movie reviews are usually posted over there, but I wanted to post it in GD too, because "Bobby" is about the last day in the life of RFK. It's a very good movie, with many similarities between that time in 1968 (voter suppression, unpopular war, protests, etc.), and I so I wanted to share it with GD.

(with apologies to Radio_Lady for stealing her movie review subject line).

I got to see an advanced screening for this movie tonight. The movie will be released on Thanksgiving.

"Bobby", written and directed by Emilio Estevez. Starring Harry Belafonte, Joy Bryant, Nick Cannon, Emilio Estevez, Laurence Fishburne, Brian Geraghty, Heather Graham, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Joshua Jackson, Ashton Kutcher, Shia LeBeouf, Lindsay Lohan, William H. Macy, Svetlana Metkina, Demi Moore, Freddy Rodgriguez, Martin Sheen, Christian Slater, Sharon Stone, Jacob Vargas, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Elijah Wood.

The movie is about the last day in Robert F. Kennedy's life, and also about many of the people who worked at, or were guests at, the Ambassador Hotel in California. What I liked the most about the movie was that while they did have an actor playing Bobby Kennedy, it was only for distance shots, and his face was mostly obscured. Instead, they used clips of RFK campaigning, and clips of him at the Ambassador after the win in California. It was so good to hear and see him again, even if only in old clips.

Most of the movie focuses on the people at the Ambassador prior to Kennedy's appearance. Some parts are funny, as when two Kennedy campaign workers meet up with Ashton Kutcher's character (and I won't go into detail except to say that the part with the litter box was hysterical......). Other parts are kind of sad, such as what happens between William H. Macy's character and Sharon Stone's character. Ordinary people, going through some ordinary, and some extraordinary, things during this day. What I kept thinking was that none of these people had any idea of the horrendous juggernaut headed their way that night.

One of the striking things about the movie, given the times we live in, are the parallels to today: voter suppression primarily based on race, including such things as police roadblocks, missing voting machines, "new" electronic machines, and warnings about hanging chads. Also, there was a very unpopular war (Vietnam), war protests, and an unpopular president (Johnson). There are issues between characters about racism and misogyny. And woven throughout the movie are the words and the voice of RFK, talking about equality, talking about reaching out to those who have less than others, speaking of how he would make those issues the focus of his presidential campaign, a campaign that was cut short.

Most of the main characters end up at the rally with RFK that night, and/or in the kitchen of the Ambassador. The affect that RFK's assassination had on them was evident in their reactions to what happened. Again, Emilio Estevez interspersed shots of the actors with footage from that night. Regardless of what had happened in their lives prior to that moment, regardless of any problems different characters may have had with each other, that moment in time brought them all together.

Two of my favorite characters in the movie are William H. Macy's and Sharon Stone's. He plays the Manager of the Ambassador; she plays the head of the hotel's beauty salon. They don't interact with each other a lot until the second half of the movie, but I liked the characters, especially Sharon Stone's. I liked Laurence Fishburne's character too. Heck, I liked them all -- that is, I liked how the actors played their characters, even if some of the characters themselves were less than good and honorable. In other words, they were human beings.

For those of us who were alive in 1968 and were old enough to remember, it was a somewhat difficult movie to watch, especially the end of it. While you know what is going to happen, it still hits like a brick when it does; at least, it hit me that. And I'm not the only one -- there were a lot of people in that theater, men and women alike, who had tears in their eyes during the last part of the movie. For those of you who weren't' alive in 1968, or who were too young to remember that day, I would encourage you to go see it. In part, to see what it was like that year, that horrible year, but also, to hear the words of that great man, Robert Francis Kennedy.

[Up2Late]

1. I just saw the first ad for it tonight on Comedy Central...

...(during The Daily Show), so I found and posted links to the Trailer/website and the IMDB pages, here's the link:

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2933433>

I doubt a review for THIS movie would be a problem here.

And if you haven't seen it yet, I posted, to the new Video Forum, Bobby's speech in 1968 Indianapolis, that he made to a crowd of people who had yet to hear that Marin Luther King had just been shot and killed.

If you've ever wondered why people though so much of Bobby Kennedy, watch the video and you'll know.

Here the link: <http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x3371>

[SeattleGirl]

2. I just watched that video you posted not 5 minutes ago.

Thank you!

[NEOBuckeye]

3. I always wondered if Bush Sr was behind it

Clear away the Kennedys so that he himself could make his eventual ascent to power. He's certainly slimy enough to have had a hand in it, considering that he also couldn't account for his whereabouts on the day that JFK was taken from us.

What an irony. For this country to fall from the hope, aspirations and courage of John and Bobby, to the ineptitude, vanity and incompetence of the Georges.

[SeattleGirl]

4. I know. I thought a lot about that while I watched the movie.

JFK and RFK were the great hope for this country, and that hope was stuffed into the trash can by whoever was behind their murders. I hope you go see the movie. It's hard to watch, most especially at the end, but it's good.

[bobbie]

6. Yes NEOBuckeye, Bush Sr & CIA is behind the Kennedy slaughter

Two recently declassified FBI memos show that "George Bush of the Central Intelligence Agency" was in Dallas on Nov 22, 1963 when President Kennedy was murdered. The CIA planned the coup and Bush was a high ranking CIA thug then (thus the FBI briefing immediately afterward). The mob supplied hit men (there were three teams of shooters in Dealey Plaza). The secret service stood down and insured that the President had *no* protection around his limo. The Dallas police were complicit. LBJ was in charge of the cover up (thus the BS Warren Commission). The FBI helped in the cover up. Richard Nixon was deeply involved (and was in Dallas that day). Watergate was about preventing exposure of Nixon in Kennedy's murder. Rich Texas oil men such as HL Hunt and Lamar Hunt and Clint Murchison funded the coup. And Nelson Rockefeller was likely involved, at a high level of course.

As far as motives, President Kennedy pissed off the most vile and powerful people in his three years in office:

-Signed National Security Action Memorandum #263 on Oct. 11, 1963, which ordered all US personnel out of Vietnam by the end of 1965.

That pissed off the war profiteers. But not to worry. LBJ to their rescue. LBJ reversed NSAM #263 in his first days in office, and replaced it with NSAM #273, escalating the Vietnam war. He then lied about the so-called Gulf of Tonkin "incident" to justify many more troops in Vietnam and...that didn't go so well. Except for the war profiteers.

-At the height of the Cold War he pursued peace with Russia by signing the nuclear test ban treaty, and giving a major speech at American University making it clear he wants to end the cold war. That further pissed off the war-profiteers.

-He promised not to invade Cuba, which pissed off the CIA and the mob.

-Printed US currency instead of Federal Reserve currency (to prevent us from paying interest on our own money). That pissed off the rich bankers.

-Planned to reduce or eliminate the oil depletion allowance that was a major factor in making Texas oil moguls so rich. That pissed off the rich Texan oil moguls.

-Tried like hell to crack down on a CIA that was clearly out of control, assassinating foreign leaders, staging coups, and spreading propaganda. He planned on eliminating the CIA. That sure pissed them off . Of course he was eliminated before he could eliminate the CIA...

(Prescott Bush was Nixon's political sponsor. Nixon was the Bush's man from the outset. That's why he was Eisenhower's VP, and was supposed to ascend to the throne when Eisenhower left. But John Kennedy won in 1960, throwing Prescott Bush/HW Bush's plans for their boy Nixon into turmoil.)

Robert Kennedy was killed by the CIA (Poppy Bush et al) because he would have won the 1968 presidency thereby denying Bush boy Nixon the throne yet again. And because RFK was, like his brother, against the Vietnam war. And because RFK would have launched the first real investigation into his brother's murder.

Ted Kennedy was framed at Chappaquiddick (after an earlier plane crash failed to kill him but killed everyone else on board).

As you suspected the Bush klan has been plotting and murdering and slaughtering Kennedys for 50 years. Thus the bleak situation the country is in today.

[SeattleGirl]

5. Shameless kick.

[H2O Man]

7. I look forward to

seeing the movie. I had hoped it would be about the last year of his life, because I think that it is more important to concentrate on the meaning of his life than the pain associated with his death.

[bobbie]

8. Thank you so much for the review of "Bobby"

I want to see it...but I don't know if I can handle it emotionally. But I need to support it...and want to see it but...ah crap.

People can see the real Ambassador Hotel footage from 1968 at youtube. It's in 7 parts or so, starting here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXuHcQ1Mrqs. Obviously it's very hard to watch, but it's very important to do so. You'll actually get to hear what really happened instead of the cover-up we've heard ever since.

In fascism the truth is revealed once and only once.

You can hear it for yourself. Too many bullets for one gun, Sirhan stood a few feet in front of Kennedy where he could *not* have killed him (fatal shot was a couple of inches behind RFK's right ear). Etc...