Screen Scene: "Bobby"

“Bobby”
Director Emilio Estevez
MGM

In every U.S. history class from fourth grade to the fourth year
of college, President John F. Kennedy is cemented as one of the
leading icons of the 1960s. However, as Black Power came to the
forefront and more young soldiers returned from Vietnam in body
bags, his brother Robert F. Kennedy was anointed to take that title
and usher the United States into a new generation of hope and
promise.

“Bobby” is hardly an autobiography of the former
attorney general ““ his only presence on screen lies in
archived news and campaign footage played on radios and TVs in the
background. However, his enormous significance is portrayed crisply
and clearly through the stories the film does follow, on the day of
his assassination at the Ambassador Hotel on June 4, 1968.

His importance is seen through the eyes of an over-the-hill,
image-obsessed Jackie Kennedy-wannabe and a confused young man
facing a future of violence and uncertainty. It also is seen
through the idealistic minority hoping to make a change without
making issue of his skin color, as well as the washed-up,
ambitionless lounge singer with nothing to lose and little to
gain.

The film, written and directed by former “Brat Pack”
member Emilio Estevez, follows every character, and while so many
story lines may seem overly ambitious, Estevez paces the film
extremely well. The story lines are a little unbalanced at times,
and the ones that happen at the Ambassador are much more fleshed
out. However, in order to truly display the confused and
conflicting period, each story plays an important role in the
puzzle and ties together to add up to a powerful and emotionally
charged finale.

In a generally superior ensemble cast, there are still
standouts. Sharon Stone (“Casino”) turns out a
memorable performance as an independent, but lonely, working wife,
while Shia LaBeouf (“Holes”) shines as a wide-eyed
drug-friendly activist. Other notable scene stealers include Freddy
Rodriguez (“Six Feet Under”) and Joshua Jackson
(“Dawson’s Creek”).

While there seems to be a lot of films in Hollywood revolving
around current and very politically charged fare,
“Bobby’s” take on the past is a refreshing change
of pace. While other films purposefully set out to change a
viewer’s voting habits or thought processes from page one,
“Bobby” is a much more natural and subtle experience,
slowly becoming less about the portrayal of one man’s last
day and more about one era’s last hope.

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