Summary
While that may sound entirely risible, there's no questioning [Emilio Estevez]'s sincerity. He was 6 when RFK was gunned down and his father, longtime Kennedy diehard Martin Sheen, took him to the scene of the crime, L.A.'s Ambassador Hotel, not long after it happened. That memory was one of the things that prompted Estevez to write and direct [Bobby Kennedy]. Another, apparently, was the impending demise of the Ambassador, where some of the film's scenes were shot even as demolition was beginning.
Much as Oliver Stone believes that John Kennedy's assassination spelled the end of America's innocence, Estevez seems to believe the same of Bobby's. It was the last bright, shining moment before the forces of cynicism and corruption gained the upper hand. I have no problem with Stone's or Estevez's theses. Mixtures of perplexing fact and insinuating sentiment, they are essentially modern myths, and myths are what most big American movies have always traded in.Still, the film's most astonishing blind spots are suggested by two names: Eugene McCarthy and Sirhan Sirhan. Neither has hardly any presence in Bobby, McCarthy's simply a name that flashes on the screen when we learn that Kennedy has beaten him in California's Democratic presidential primary, and Sirhan's merely a shadowy figure who slips into the hotel kitchen a few minutes later and starts shooting. Noting this makes me realize that the film has two audiences. Those who, as I do, remember the events of June 4-5, 1968, can only be flabbergasted that Bobby would effectively ignore McCarthy and Sirhan. For viewers too young to remember, a little history may be in order.See the full content of this document
Extract
Requiem for a Contender
Requiem for a contender
Bobby fails to educate, and The Fountain fails to irrigateWhen an actor sets out to make a movie about politics, what ends up predominating-acting or politics? If the answer to that isn't blazingly obvious, you might want to consult Emilio Estevez's BOBBY, a sprawling drama about the day Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated. Though featuring 22 name performers who act up a storm, the film almost makes it seem that the cultural...See the full content of this document
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