Dir.
Emilio Estevez, 2006, USA, 120 mins
Cast includes: Anthony Hopkins, Sharon Stone, Demi Moore,
Elijah Wood, Harry Belafonte, Emilio Estevez, Helen Hunt,
Lindsay Lohan, Christian Slater, Freddy Rodriguez
Review by Joyce Dundas
Many a film has been described as a labour
of love by a writer/director but n the case of Estevez and
his commitment and struggle to make Bobby, that is the perfect
description. Seven years in development a huge ensemble cast,
an even bigger case of writer's block and a location slated
for demolition were only some of the factors that conspired
against Estevez's vision to complete a film based on one
of his childhood heroes, Robert F. Kennedy. The final product,
though ambitious, is a great success.
The strength of the film is not that
it is a simple biopic of Bobby Kennedy, but in its evocation
of the late '60s and how it shows the personal impact on
Bobby's supporters before, during and after his violent
death at the gun of assassin Sirhan Sirhan. It helps that
the ensemble cast throw themselves into their roles and,
as most cast members agree, “had
to leave their egos at the door”. Some of the most
arresting names working in movies today play 22 fictional
characters assembled in LA's Ambassador Hotel for Bobby's
last speech.Filmwise it is impossible not to find comparisons
to the grand style of Edmund Goulding's Grand Hotel, as the
characters interplay and stories weave together. Bobby Kennedy
is only ever seen in flashback in reallife footage with all
his tics, personality and incredible charisma up there for
the audience to see.
Estevez has also achieved something quite special in bringing
so many 'isms' into one film: racism, sexism, classism and
even ageism, are all touched upon as you would expect from
a film set around Robert Kennedy. It would have been impossible
to do justice to the story otherwise. It is film however
thay may struggle for an audience because many may know who
Robert Kennedy is but most of the younger audience, whom
it would benefit more, will not have a clue.
It's interesting though that while Hollywood throws away
its female characters, the women in this film are worth a
mention in themselves: Stone's brassy hotel beautician, Moore's
lounge singer desperately trying to anaesthesise herself
with alcohol, Hunt's dutiful if neurotic wife, and Diane
as played by Lohan, are incredible performances. (The standout
may be Lohan as a young woman finding her own mind at the
same time as her sexual freedom, but there is also a magnificent
scene between Stone and Moore, two of the most beautiful,
and now older women ever to hit the screen that arrests the
movie in a great way. Acting at its very best.)
The men are not bad either, Rodiriguez is stunning as is
Slater and the racist elements are so intelligently dealt
with it could be held up in class as the 'This is how not
to behave' scenario.
Ultimately, the overwhelming feeling of loss felt by everyone
at Bobby Kennedy's death in the film resonates well in the
current climate. The questions of why we go to war, the lack
of cultural understanding and the massive mix of ethic groups
might well resonate better with a mature UK audience than
it might have done with a contemporary audience in the US.
It makes you think what Bobby might have achieved.
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