"W"

I finally watched Oliver Stone's, "W" last night (on-demand), and I liked it much more than I thought that I would. I had heard so many negative things about the film from family and friends when it was in the theaters, that I did not go to see it in the movies. The most common negative comment that I had heard, was that Oliver Stone had portrayed George W. Bush as being more "misunderstood," than "evil." I can understand that point, but perhaps Stone attempted to do something else with the dramatic biography.

There was something "Forrest Gumpish" about the depiction, but I did not feel that it in any way detracted from Stone's portrayal of Bush as egocentric, power-driven, and rigid. It often seemed that we were viewing George W. Bush's life story from W's own perspective - which brought with it the fantasy, almost dream-like presence of the film. In the story, you saw a man whom life happened to, more than a person who made life happen. Even the famous "pretzel choking" scene seemed to bring this to light. Bush was choking on a hard pretzel and couldn't dislodge the food from his throat himself. When he finally fell before passing out, the pretzel piece came flying out when his gut hit the floor. By a fluke of luck, he saved himself.

Stone's subtle portrayal of Bush's egocentricness, played out beautifully in the scenes when he was walking through his ranch with his cabinet members behind him. Bush was enjoying himself, having not one clue - or care - that Condi Rice, Dick Cheney, and others were shvitzing through their suits and ready to pass out. To me, I don't feel that the subtleties in Stone's depiction in any way detracted from the film audience being able to view W as the egomaniac that is was/is. The fantasy-like quality actually made me more angry, than if Stone had portrayed him as full, in-your-face, evil-doer.

Now, Barack Obama is left dealing with the full brunt of the fantasy world that George W. Bush resided in. To put it mildly, that is a heck of a lot of reality. I am thankful that Obama won. Sarah Palin was a little too close to Bush's, "Frontier Land" to me.