W. (2008)

	Directed by: Oliver Stone	COUNTRY USA/UK GENRE Drama/Romance NORWEGIAN TITLE W. RUNNING TIME 119 minutes
	Produced by: Bobby Cohen John Hart Sam Mendes Scott Rudin
	Written by (based on the novel by Richard Yates): Justin Haythe

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
George W. Bush	Josh Brolin	½
Laura Bush	Elizabeth Banks
George H. W. Bush	James Cromwell	½
Barbara Bush	Ellen Burstyn	½
Dick Cheney	Richard Dreyfuss
Colin Powell	Jeffrey Wright	½
Donald Rumsfeld	Scott Glenn	½
Condoleezza Rice	Thandie Newton	½
Karl Rove	Toby Jones	½
George Tenet	Bruce McGill	½
Tony Blair	Ioan Gruffudd
Susie Evans	Jennifer Sipes
Donald Evans	Noah Wyle
Ari Fleischer	Rob Corddry
Earle Hudd	Stacy Keach
Speech writer	Colin Hanks

Review

The latest of Oliver Stone's increasingly simplified accounts of important political people and events, entitled W., is aiming to sum up George W. Bush's presidency and draw conclusions mainly as to what went wrong, but to some degree also why. The initial and most obvious objection to the film is that it was made too soon. The reasons are chiefly two: Firstly, the events portrayed are fresh in most people's minds and thus have little informative value (at least when the script isn't more scrutinizing than this). And secondly, when viewed empirically, the historical verdict on Bush Junior will probably change quite a bit over the next couple of decades, something that will make the view presented in W. rather insignificant. Few great historical accounts were written contemporaneously.

With these objections covered, W. still is an engaging and interesting film. Stone has much better balance and is less biased in his work here than he was with World Trade Centre a couple of years ago. W. lacks width in portraying Bush's political career and presents the governmental state of affairs in a simplified, almost patronizing manner, but Stone arguably touches upon rather crucial truths in the process. Much of what is presented here concerning the war in Iraq is well-known facts, but occasionally, W. digs a little deeper and asks probing questions.

The acting is diverse, both in quality and nature. Some of these figures are portrayed in a parodic and impersonating manner, which might garner amusement, but hardly emotion or empathy. I attribute this to the freshness of the material and the fact that the performers have little else to work with than the appearance and gestures of their models. This particularly goes for Thandie Newton as Condoleezza Rice and Scott Glenn as Donald Rumsfeld. Josh Brolin in the title role also has some trouble distancing himself from mimicry, but at least his is a thorough and impressive impersonation that comes close to George W. Bush's mannerisms in many ways. His work makes for a fine superficial portrait of George Walker Bush, but apart from some simple Freudianism, we don't really get to know what went on inside the man's head. And in all likelihood, we won't for quite a while.