W. EXPOSES A STRUGGLE FOR POWER FOR ITS OWN SAKE—WITHOUT PURPOSE
W., directed by Oliver Stone, places filmviewers in the role of amateur psychologists, seeking an explanation for the irrational behavior of the current President Bush (played by Josh Brolin) from the prolonged adolescent rebelliousness of a son who never grew up. Flashing back to earlier days and forward to Bush as president, he is portrayed as a reckless nitwit finally able to control his alcoholism with the aid of his fascinated spouse (played by Elizabeth Banks), his religion, and fulfillment of his quest for power. While those around him are able to manipulate him to parrot their thinking, the father-son conflict and sibling rivalry with brother Jeb is never resolved. Appearing to rely on Woodward’s first three books, the film portrays a groupthink that particularly humiliates Colin Powell (played by Jeffrey Wright). In the end, Bush is distraught when things go wrong, blaming others and returning to “near beer” for solace. Although many reviewers believe that pour entendre c’est pour pardonner applies, the fact that George H. W. Bush (played by James Cromwell) never really disciplined his unruly son seems the best explanation for the disaster resulting from empowering someone who lacked the judgment that develops from learning from one’s own mistakes and making appropriate personality adjustments at an early age. Instead, Bush operates on the naïve belief that expertise and wisdom count for much less than muscle and resolve. The Political Film Society has nominated W. for best film exposé of 2008. MH