W. The Movie

I was able to watch W. last night on Blu-Ray.  Really thought provoking movie.  I know that when Oliver Stone said he was going to do a movie about George W. Bush, everyone said, Uh.Oh.  What kind of agenda is he going to go with?

Well, it was surprisingly non-political.  I think he tried very hard to focus on the motivation of Bush and why he did some of the things he did.  For example, the movie focuses on how W. thought his Dad messed up by not fully invading Iraq during Desert Storm. It was a very quick war, and W. thought Bush Sr. should have finished the job by going all the way to Baghdad.  Later in the movie, it shows that as his motivation for continuing the war in Iraq.

It shows how Cheney may have manipulated him, but it also showed W. as a very strong character.  Not really a puppet, per se, but someone who wanted consensus on what to do with major policy decisions.  It also goes out of its way to show that Bush loved to eat.  He is eating in practically every single scene (not kidding, check it out).

What I thought was really cool about the movie is how it showed that W. was VERY good at memorization.  He used it during hazing at Yale to his benefit, and he used it to his benefit while running for governor of Texas.  It showed his campaign manager firing question after question at him, and he would just spit back the memorized response.  It showed that he really had a talent for memorizing things, which would ultimately end up hurting his presidencey, IMO.

I enjoyed the movie for what it was worth, and so did my son.  I don't know how accurate it was, but it gave unique insight into how meetings can go down where major decisions are made.  It also showed how deferential staffers are to the president, and how they pander to his ego to get the decisions that they want.  Like I said, I don't know how accurate this truly was, but it was neat to see Condeleeza Rice put her ego in check to make the President happy.

Good movie...Josh Brolin was great, as was Richard Dreyfuss.

Also, check out the cameo by Brad Sham (yes, that Brad Sham) as the reporter that asks the very tough question at the end of the movie.  I did a double take, and then had to check the credits to be sure, but sure enough, it was him!