W.

One sequence in Oliver Stone's newest biopic W. shows President George W. Bush's cabinet walking behind him at his Crawford ranch. The long shots of the group strolling distinctly reminded me of a similar shot of the cast walking along a country road in The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. In the latter film by Luis Bunuel the shot is repeated throughout and the set-up implies that the cast are dead and are walking on a road in the afterlife.
In W. Stone uses a repeating motif of Bush (played with veracity by James Brolin) playing major league baseball in center field only there's nobody in the stands. This sporting image pops up sometimes with Bush in his Ranger's jersey (he once owned the Texas Rangers and the script notes he traded Sammy Sosa) and even once in a business suit. On one hand it recalls another sports movie that Stone directed with high octane energy (Any Given Sunday) yet W. unwinds in a dramatic low-key manner that eschews any hyperkinetic motion. W. is a tough movie to swallow and that demands an audience versed in drama to appreciate its nuances.
On a side note, when I wrote for another paper and listed JFK as best film of that year the publisher's wife said I should be replaced because I was just a conspiracy freak. A week later when Roger Ebert listed JFK as film of the year she retracted her statement. There's strength in numbers baby. This isn't the Stone of Platoon or JFK or even U-Turn or NBK yet there's an unmistakable touch that defines the director. When we progress in one scene from the White House to the Bush ranch we hear the song "Robin Hood" in the background. With this campy theme song from a 50s children's show the moment elicits grins and recalls that scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where Eric Idle is being serenaded as "Brave Sir Robin."
The tone quickly switches to pathos as we sit in conferences with Bush and his cabinet discussing WMDs. Scenes like this and lunch scenes are played for heavy dramatic effect. Dick Cheney (Richard Dreyfuss) tries to explain to his boss the logic behind going to war over WMDs even if the probability is 1-percent. This is scary stuff and even the comic implication of Bush using his finger for a toothpick or the fact that he's eating a baloney sandwich (served from a silver platter) doesn't make you laugh out loud so much as send a chill down your psyche. Later after the war is in its disastrous stage and Bush tells everyone he's sworn off desert until there's a resolution to the conflict we see Daniel Rumsfield (an unrepentant Scott Glenn) gobble down the pecan pie. Thandie Newton plays her part of Condi Rice as a sycophant, Elizabeth Banks plays Laura Bush as a woman who stands by her man, and Jeffrey Wright gives Colin Powell a conscious, just witness his wrathful aside to Cheney in one scene. There are illuminating bits like when W. wakes up one morning with one too many hangovers and decides to kick his addiction to booze. As admirable as that is it results in his zealous religious ideals that include praying after Presidential staff meetings.
Stone has made a bio that stands alongside his other bios like Nixon and Alexander. It's complicated, researched and opinionated, and something like that will only appeal to a narrow audience. Fortunately they will not be narrow minded.