1 of 3

W. Our rating: Rate this movie   MPAA rating: PG-13 (for language including sexual references, some alcohol abuse, smoking and brief disturbing war images) Genre: Comedy, Drama Theater release: October 17, 2008 by Lionsgate Directed by: Oliver Stone Runtime: 2 hours 11 minutes Cast: Josh Brolin (George W. Bush), Elizabeth Banks (Laura Bush), James Cromwell (George Herbert Walker Bush), Richard Dreyfuss (Dick Cheney), Thandie Newton (Condoleezza Rice) Ellen Burstyn (Barbara Bush), Jeffrey Wright (Colin Powell), Toby Jones (Karl Rove) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

Though director Oliver Stone is no stranger to presidential biopics (JFK, Nixon), W. is his first film to tackle the subject of a sitting U.S. president, a fact that has drawn the ire of more than one critic. Isn't history written best with some distance and perspective? Bush is one of the most controversial presidents ever, after all, so couldn't Stone have waited a few years to give him a proper cinematic treatment (as he did with World Trade Center)?

W., however, does not aspire to write history, and it's not all that concerned with verisimilitude. Rather, it is a film about the George W. Bush mythos—a pop-art deconstruction of the larger-than-life, made-for-the-movies figure of "Dubya" that has loomed large over the world for the past eight years. And for what it is, W. is brilliant.

Josh Brolin as George W. Bush, Richard Dreyfuss as Dick Cheney

Recognizing the sheer immensity of the Bush narrative, Stone wisely chooses to focus W. on select moments in his life and presidency. The narrative is structured so that we jump back and forth between Bush's first term in office (roughly the 2002-2003 lead-up to the Iraq War) and his life before 1994 (when he was elected Governor of Texas). It is a testament to the thrifty script by Stanley Weiser (Wall Street) that a hyper-complicated president like Bush can be reduced—and, in some ways, understood—in the short span of two hours and eleven minutes.

The strength of the film is not necessarily its accuracy—though it seems true to Bush's life, Stone wasn't working for the fact-checking police—but that it artfully tells a compelling story. W is more Greek tragedy than political satire, more American Freudian fable than historical biopic. It is a flawed, patriotic mess of a movie that nevertheless feels familiar and comfortable, almost therapeutic. And as the piano refrain of "The Yellow Rose of Texas" repeatedly reminds us (as does the music of Alan Jackson, Willie Nelson, Gene Autry and Bob Dylan), W. is also endearingly American.

The first—and most surprising thing—that you'll notice about W. is that it is an empathetic, humane, some might even say favorable rendering of President Bush. Coming from Oliver Stone, this is something of a shock. Audiences might expect an utter and complete skewering of the president, and many will be disappointed. "W" (also known as "Junior" or "Bushie") comes across less as a villain and more like your average American man-boy—mischievous, immature, but ultimately quite principled and compassionate. He's somewhere between Tom Sawyer and Jay Gatsby—an American icon never quite comfortable in his own skin, always on the lookout for affirmation from others, yet unswervingly (if perhaps recklessly) devoted to whatever goal or green light is currently registering on his radar.

Elizabeth Banks as Laura Bush

The chief irony of the film is that it is a very domestic story—ultimately about family and faith—and yet it plays out on the biggest of all stages: the American presidency. Stone seems to take special joy in juxtaposing Dubya's folksy "Don't mess with Texas" cowboy simplicity with the "making decisions that have world impact" gravitas of his job. It's fun to watch Bush at his Crawford ranch, for example—leading a brigade of his closest advisors (Rummy, Condi, Rove, etc.) on a sort of "foreign policy nature hike" where Iraq battle strategies are formulated. Or there is the affable impertinence with which he chats about war policies with Dick "Vice" Cheney while stuffing his face with a ham-on-Wonder bread sandwich and Cheetos. These moments remind us why Bush is so extremely polarizing; he is often simultaneously endearing and maddening, depending on who you ask.

One of the most impressive things about Stone's treatment of George W. Bush is the complex respect given to the president's Christian faith. The film is, in a way, a tale of his spiritual journey, from hard-drinking, aimless party boy to devout evangelical Christian. Though many details are left out of the story (such as Billy Graham's role in Bush's decision to come to Christ), the overall spirit of it feels more or less accurate. Bush's conversion scene—hinging on an affable Texas minister named Earle reading John 3:16—feels as or more honest than any Christian-made film I've seen. It would be easy to insinuate that Dubya used religion as a political convenience, and this is certainly implied ("I will never be out-Christianed again," Bush tells a friend after he loses his 1978 bid for congress). But in the careful hands of Josh Brolin, Bush's faith gets the nuanced treatment it deserves.

next page... |  1 of 3 | last page