W. - Review

Ever since I took a Mysteries and Conspiracies course in my fourth year of University and ever since the last presidential debate between Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump, I have taken a big interest in American politics. Being Canadian, there is not much I can do to sway the votes a certain way when an election comes around, but that doesn't stop me from watching presidential movies like Oliver Stone's "W." Now, I was alive during George W. Bush's time in office but I was too young to pay attention or even really understand what was going on. I don't even remember where I was during 9/11 or even finding out about it. So I have no personal attachment to this story. I do remember though lots of funny pictures and parody videos on the internet about George W. Bush and got the idea that he was pretty stupid. Now, this film shows some of his less bright moments and knowing how left Oliver Stone is, I was ready for a two hour film of George W. Bush acting like an idiot, but I didn't expect this story to be told as a tragedy. This is a story of a man who is in constant shadow of his father and is always trying to seek the approval and the love from him. I like how the film was able to show the parallel's in both of the President Bush's lives and how differently they handled the situations. Telling this story that way, you really feel sympathy for George W. Bush, at least Josh Brolin's portrayal of him which surprisingly is pretty good. I wasn't angry after watching this film which, to be honest, I thought I was going to be. After watching JFK and even Snowden to an extent, you felt like you have been cheated by the higher ups in the United States government or the CIA or whoever it may be, but here, I felt sorry for George and how he was thrown into the Iraq situation. Lastly, I love Oliver Stone's choices of music and music placement. Reminded me of Michael Moore's films and how he uses music very ironically to get his point across. Watching Iraq get blown to pieces while listening to some cute, innocent whistle with snare drums was very unsettling. Overall, I really enjoyed W. but I would only recommend this movie to political buffs. I could see someone who doesn't really care or know much about politics be lost or bored during this movie. I was anything but.