Monday, November 18, 2013

Clif-Notes: Parkland

Parkland is based on the book Four Days in November by Vincent Bugliosi and is the story surrounding the Kennedy assassination and the people who then have to deal with it all. As history goes, I know that there are many conspiracies around this. From it revolving around Johnson becoming president to there being another gunman. Thankfully, I really have no desire to find out about these as I figure it's done and it deserves to be over. What this story does is tell about the events that happened. No theories, no debates. Here's what did happen on those days and as far as the movie goes, I was quite amazed. The movie stars many great names including Paul Gimatti, Marsha Gay Harden, Billy Bob Thorton, Colin Hanks, Mark Duplass and Jackie Earle Haley and even some very solid performances from names I wouldn't normally put at the top like Zac Efron and Tom Welling. Everybody in this movie was pretty damn good, in the very least. Anybody who knows me knows that I can have quite the stomach for violence and gore and everything between but I found the first 30 minutes or so very strong and kinda hard to watch. It revolves around the actual shooting and the doctors trying to save his life and the reaction of people to the news of Kennedy's death. The mood is very heavy and you can feel it through every face, from main stars to the extras. I felt the pain of that day and it was not an easy feeling. We then follow the arrest of Oswald and his subsequent murder and are left very empty, but not really in a bad way. It's left open in a way that you know those conspiracy theories are all following suit. That you know it's not a happy ending and the last fifty years fills in all the gaps after it.
Maybe this movie didn't have the fullest story to tell and maybe it's a story that some could feel has been told countless times and therefore has less meaning. None of that takes away from the amazing acting and that acting is what makes an emotional and personal story like this one worth watching.

No comments:

Post a Comment