Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Two Men and a Movie

It's been a tradition in my family for quite some time now that we all go catch a matinée on the Friday after Thanksgiving. When we were younger it was always whatever new Disney movie was out, but this year we went to see Bobby. If you haven't heard, Bobby is Emilio Estevez's new movie about the assassination of Bobby Kennedy in 1968.

The reason that I bring all of this up is that it's a fantastic movie. Unlike most movies about a single event, Bobby is focused on 22 characters who are in the Ambassador Hotel on that day. There are politicians, a young couple on the day of their wedding, superstars, cooks, and managers. But the overall theme, and Estevez was particularly good at getting this across, was what Bobby Kennedy meant to people in 1968 - the hope that he promised.

I could not but help think at the end of the movie that there really needs to be a movie about Yitzhak Rabin made in a similar format. When Rabin was assassinated twelve years ago I was too young to understand his politics, but I saw the look on my mother's face when we heard that he had died. I do not agree with Rabin's politics - and neither did my mother - but on that day, as in 1968, the hope was killed a long with the person. I'm not totally sure that it can be regained either, well not very easily at least.

Do yourself a favor, go see Bobby.

2 comments:

Reel Fanatic said...

I had been worried that there were just too many stars in this one for it to have any cohesion, but I'm beginning to think I just might break down and give it a chance ... it's certainly a worthy subject

Natan said...

I feared much the same thing, but I those fears seemed to be unfounded. If what I read is right, many of the people starring in Bobby did it for very little money some even appearing for free.

Estevez was quoted as saying "The entire budget of this film is equal to what some of the actors get personally per film".

Apparently they thought the message and the film was a good cause.