Jul 20, 2010

W. - the man behind the scandal and hate

W. (2008)

Directed by Oliver Stone. Starring Josh Brolin, James Cromwell, Elizabeth Banks.

Long story short: The journey of George W. Bush - how a carefree collage kid grew up to be the most controversial man in the world.

Everyone has an opinion about George W. Bush, some stronger than others, some more reasoned than others. In many cases the opinion is quite negative. I personally have never had nothing much to say about the man - sure, I've never liked him, but neither was I ever very interested in mentally spitting on him. I don't care much about politics, so I only knew what the others were saying - that he's dumb and ignorant and he will personally be responsible for the third World War that supposingly would break out during his presidental term. And yeah, I was a bit chagrined when John Kerry lost, and then I watched Fahrenheit 9/11 and there were all these conspiracy theories around. So he wasn't very popular in my book, either.

Recently I've been reshaping my shaky opinion. I'm still not in love with the man, but mostly I just feel kind of sorry for him. I have no idea what he really is like, but I'm pretty sure there's more to him than what the public image have made us assume. And he probably doesn't deserve quite all of the hate and contempt. Again, I don't know much about politics, but I think the decisions, whether they are good or bad, are made by more than one person. But there's always that one person, who gets the credit or is held responsible for those decisions. It'd really suck to be the president of United States, wouldn't it? I think it would.
Hmm. I think I was supposed to be talking about the film. So. The George W. Bush of W. isn't very lovable to me. He has that Texas/redneck mentality that annoys me, especially the young Bush. He's a bit loud and harsh and just generally a bit unpleasant and unstable. But well, he has a brain he knows how to use. HOW he uses it, that's a different story... Anyway, Josh Brolin is very very good. So is James Cromwell. I've always liked the actor, whatever he does, but I never seem to remember his name. For me, he'll always be always the old farmer from Babe (I wonder if that old VHS still works...).

I think the film's purpose was to make us understand George W. Bush, to make him seem more human and easier to sympathize with. It didn't really do the trick for me, but then again, I wasn't a hater in the first place. And I have a problem with the stereotypically American hillbillys from Texas. Nothing personal, you fine people of Texas, if there are any in the whole state. ...Okay, enough now, I don't what to be too mean.

Anyway. I didn't really like the movie much. For me, rather than a bio pic, it was just a lot of talk about politics, and I happen not to like politics. I think it's calculating, dishonest and nasty business, something I don't want to be a part of, but all the same something that the modern society needs to work. Some parts of the film were interesting, but mostly I was just glancing at the clock.

And what it comes to George W. Bush, I don't feel I know or understand him any better now than I did before. I still don't know if he deserves to go down in history as the unliked, controversial, iffy president. But I suppose that's not my problem.

"I believe God wants me to be president."

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