As I drove to the theater to see “W.” I decided it was about damn time I come up with a solid opinion of the real George W. Bush. When I think of George W. Bush I think of words such as idiot, dumb, misunderestimated, and lots of other demeaning words. But those words are not mine. Those are words from the mouths of many pissed off Americans. My question has always been:
Who is this man, and how did he become the most hated president of my time?
Perhaps this film answered it, or it just opened up the answer that I already had in me.
Oliver Stone wanted me to feel bad for W. I did feel bad up to a certain point in his life, but when W. changed himself to prove something to his father I stopped believing in him. Oliver Stone didn’t make this film to make fun of W., but he made it to show us that he was no different than any of us at one point in our lives. Stone also showed us that there is a point in our lives where we can do things differently.
The events in W.’s life that were shown helped greatly in shaping my opinion. They will also add to those already established opinions if people are open to it. This film does something fantastic in taking the most hated man and turning him into a person, and it does so in a clean and honorable fashion. It has it’s laughs, but not always at the expense of our current president. And it has it’s slow parts that had me wondering at what point the film would start moving again.
Josh Brolin’s performance also lends a huge hand in the task of humanizing W. I was watching the man called W, and not Josh Brolin as W, which is all I can ask for from an actor. The same goes for the rest of the major cast. I was blown away by Thandie Newton as Condoleeza Rice. And I mean that in a bad way, that was more a bad impression than acting. I also favored the performance of Jeffrey Wright as Colin Powell. I had never actually heard Powell talk a lot, but Wright convinced me that Powell probably talks just like that. From the moment I heard Elizabeth Banks was going to be playing Laura Bush I was very surprised. And while watching her performance, I was surprised throughout that she was actually doing this film (I will love her so much more when I see her in “Porno”).
I congratulate Oliver Stone on his accomplishment. W. is one of the most unforgettable films I have seen.
Back to my question:
Who is this man, and how did he become the most hated president of my time?
This man’s path to becoming president was not the best path. He spent a life trying to prove himself worthy of the Bush name, something that he shouldn’t have had to do. He had dreams in his early life of being an athlete and that carried on throughout his life. But his father, constantly dragging him down, didn’t allow that dream to flourish. This situation is very classic to me:
A person has a dream, but people try to hold them back. The great people see through the oppressors and succeed. Some people are so brought down that they may not succeed in obtaining their dreams, but they can still carry inspiration and hope on to others. Then you have your “W.”’s, and they become a lesser version of what they could have been, or something else they never should have been. President.
I give “W.” a 7 out of 10.
