Movie Review: W., The Bush Exit Interview - Page 2

W’s time in the White House is eaten up with his belief in himself and his own judgment. He is surrounded by men he discovers, too late, fail him and do not deliver the “slam dunk” as promised.

This is the kernel of truth that Bush simply will not swallow. He can’t blame himself or admit error because he hears, and heeds, the inner call to run for president just as he hears the call to run Saddam out of Iraq. His cabinet talks of oil and watches an interactive map together that seeks to convince Bush and company that this is a must-do. Convinced, they begin to make it happen. This is where the political roles of Powell and Rice prop up Bush’s lack of stats, facts, and alliances. Newton's Rice is utterly convincing. One cannot recognize her behind the hair, makeup, and mannerisms of a Russian-speaking Condolezza Rice, easily one of her best performances.

Bush and his men make Iraq happen and by the end of the movie the utter “fiasco” of Iraq wears deeply on everyone’s face. W. the movie sells the idea that a need for an Iraq war is pure fiction: It's all about the oil under the ground in Iraq and neighboring Iran. America is out of the oil loop by virtue of two vast oceans separating it from entitlement to Middle Eastern oil. Bush however has been warned by the “if you break it you bought it” line and a snide (if true) editorial that Bush Sr. has Brent Scowcroft write instead of telling "junior" to his face that the thought of his war is keeping him up at night.

W.'s slow-jog open quickly loops and gains momentum when George Bush meets Laura Welch at a barbeque. She calls him Geo. They marry and she proves the perfect wife to his ambitions. The surprise here is that Rove as the Bush trump card is low key, given the role Rove enjoyed as “Bush’s Brain.”

Everything about this movie works well. While the bio-pic is ever a difficult genre and no director can fully examine a president’s life in a two-hour 9-minute movie, Oliver Stone gets it right. He gets it right by highlighting the very thing that history will point to in a presidency that went wrong: A president who went from an 80% approval rate to one near 20% by his exit.

Article Author: Heloise

Author, writer, teacher, blogger, keeps a blog The Trough where she writes. She combines spirituality and politics as no other. She is a native of Chicago, who prefers walking as exercise. The author has a B.S., biology and M.A., anthropology, certified science and french teacher.
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