BuzzFlash Reviews
Bobby (DVD)
Directed by Emilio Estevez
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It was not a large commercial success when recently released in theaters in large part because it doesn't fit neatly into a genre. Yet, it does a wonderful job -- with an all-star cast -- of capturing the mood and hope of the RFK run for the presidency and the day he won the California primary in 1968 -- and was assassinated at the now demolished Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
Estevez adopts the Altman technique of unfolding the film's narrative through interwoven stories of people who were involved in big and small ways with the events that unfolded at the Ambassador Hotel on that fateful day.
It is not a morbid film. Rather it focuses on how individuals of common and celebrity stature were caught up in the hope and promise of the Kennedy campaign. It is, at its heart, about our daily lives and how we came to envision a brighter future through an individual who might lead our government.
Documentary footage of Bobby Kennedy is sprinkled throughout the movie, providing the backdrop for the personal stories that unfold, with the now defunct Ambassador Hotel as the backdrop.
It is a thoughtful, moving film that takes its time to focus on the little events in such a momentous day, on class, race and wealth divisions, and on the great expectation that RFK offered to a nation yearning for healing at the height of the Vietnam War and with the Civil Rights Movement not yet fully embraced by the nation (as the battles for issues such as affirmative action are still being fought to this day).
Not preachy or didactic, it is entertaining and "Altmanesque." It reminds us of how much was taken from us by the lost of RFK, Martin Luther King, and JFK.
Violence is the dark side of the American dream that steals so much hope and squanders our opportunity to achieve our greatness.
Here are some of the actors and actresses in "Bobby":
Harry Belafonte
Emilio Estevez
Laurence Fishburne
Heather Graham
Anthony Hopkins
Helen Hunt
Demi Moore
Martin Sheen
Christian Slater
Sharon Stone
And many, many more worthy of note.
The attention to detail in recreating the Ambassador Hotel (the production company bought furniture, signage and even chandeliers from the liquidators of the hotel before it was torn down) and the period dress and mood is done in exemplary fashion.
This is an engaging, wistful film that leaves one wondering how one bullet may have led to a 40-year journey through the desert for America.
Next year will mark the 40th anniversary of Robert Kennedy's assassination.
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