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Anything Oliver Stone directs is a flashpoint for controversy, and so it is with his character portrait of George W. Bush: "W."

Bush fans didn't like it because Bush is portrayed as a shallow, mediocre thinker who was largely defined by feeling spurned by his father in favor of his younger brother Jeb. Bush brought no skills to the presidency except a bizarre syntax and being the guy people would like to have a beer with (even though he was supposedly no longer drinking alcohol.)

Bush opponents felt that Stone wasn't critical enough of the Bush governorship (which passes very quickly; don't blink) and the presidency years. And Bush is so inadequate and clueless as president that you could almost start feeling sorry for him -- almost.

But we relished "W" knowing that it was meant to reveal a distillation of Bush's character, which is so stunted that you almost feel he needs to be in sheltered care.

Josh Brolin is brilliant in pulling off an almost impossible dramatic assignment: making a living president who we know as a Karl Rove "product" appear real as a person of enormous limitations and lack of personal insight.

Stone says that everything in the film is factually documented, although words, phrases and incidents are sometimes in different settings for the sake of dramatic development.

The key political forces behind the Iraq War -- with Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and Rove for it and only Colin Powell dissenting -- are masterfully condensed in a key national security meeting that Bush sort of presides over, but doesn't really understand. When Cheney cuts to the chase and shows slides about how attacking Iraq (and then Iran) is necessary to preserve America's oil supply, Bush responds: "Those are some big thoughts."

Brolin carries the weight of this film in portraying a man whose very mediocrity is more complex and psychologically troubled than one would anticipate. Bush compensates by being gleefully unaware of himself; introspection is several levels above his capabilities.

For those who immersed themselves in all things Bush, Stone pulls off a difficult task: a film that illuminates political history by providing insight into the personality of the Bush who was not supposed to become president (his parents thought him too incapable and -- as we noted earlier -- were putting their chips on Jeb.)

Phrases uttered throughout the film will echo from when you first heard them, but it is Brolin who provides a three-dimensionality to an enigmatic man whose contempt for what he perceived as his father's weak character allowed him to follow the Machiavellian maneuvering of the axis of evil within his own administration.

Richard Dreyfuss, by the way, masterfully plays the sinister, cynical "Master of the Universe" Dick Cheney.

If you're looking for a film that takes political shots at Bush, "W" is not the one to see. But if you are eager to be illuminated a bit more about the character and psychological motivations of George W. Bush, then it is definitely an engrossing watch.

We found it an unexpected special treat.

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