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Bobby
(2006)  
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Director:
Emilio Estevez |
COUNTRY
USA |
GENRE
Drama/Historical |
NORWEGIAN
TITLE
Bobby |
RUNNING
TIME
112
minutes |
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Producer:
Edward Bass
Michel Litvak
Holly Wiersma |
Screenwriter:
Emilio Estevez |
Review
Emilio
Estevez' resonant rendition of the night of 5 June 1968 at the
Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles is an echoing comment about a society
with dangerously deviating tendencies. It is a powerful political
criticism that never degrades to simple kicks or propaganda.
Weaving the
lives of an ensemble of
fictitious
characters connected to Robert F. Kennedy or the
Ambassador Hotel that crucial day and night of RFK's assassination with the real-life
circumstances around Kennedy's presidential campaign and the state of
affairs in US politics at the time, Estevez embarks on a filmatic and
narratively ambitious project. The proportions of the film are massive,
but for all the issues he touches upon, it is the filmmaker's clever
approach that prevents the film from becoming overloaded. It is up to
the viewer and our individual ballast to what degree and on what level Bobby
will work. The remarkable is that it will be fruitful for most
backgrounds, and very fruitful for those who bring multiple points of
view.
Technically, the film is incredibly impressive - the
combination of archive and new footage works like a charm, bringing the
spirit and thinking of RFK closer to an audience than it has been for a
long time. And the film is elegantly cut and shot by Estevez - whose
uncanny combination of the lightly humorous and the profoundly complex
provides the foundation for a layered, entertaining and electric film.
The combination of engaging, episodic drama and poignant social and
political comments makes Bobby a stirringly effective remark on
how very different the world situation could have been today had it not
been for two infamous assassinations of two of the most visionary American
figures of the 20th century.
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