Bobby–Emilio Put His, and the Best Feet in Hollywood, Forward

In my mind’s eye everything from the 1960’s is in sepia tones. I don’t know if it’s because I was so young that the memories are like faded old pictures or what, but even when I see that era replicated on tv or in movies it sends me into a comfy cocoon-like state. I always wonder if we all have particular fondness for our birth decade.

I’m also really taken with the whole Kennedy epic. My parents have always been die-hard liberals, true young people of the sixties. They loved John and Bobby and probably passed that affection on to me.

Naturally I’ve been chomping at the bit to see the movie, Bobby, written and directed by my new, old hero, Emilio Estevez. And talk about a cast of thousands: Demi Moore, Sharon Stone, Martin Sheen, Helen Hunt, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Fishburne, Harry Belafonte, Christian Slater, William H. Macy, Ashton Kutcher and several others I recognize but can’t name. Even Lindsay Lohan came way up in my estimation from tabloid trash to talented actress. She was great in her role.

The fusion of historical documentation and Hollywood’s best effort sent me away from the theater with even greater appreciation for the altruistic and heroic figures of my past and for the truly stellar individuals on the screen.

Like my first favorite book, Hotel, this movie revealed (although in pictoral chapters), through separate storylines, the internal and external struggles of the individual characters, all employees or guests of a hotel–in this case the Ambassador Hotel, where Bobby Kennedy was shot. It takes us through that day, weaving conversations and personal situations into the historic events that took place.

Actual clips of Bobby, from that day and throughout his campaign, along with footage of Walter Cronkite reporting the California Primary election results meld with artistic portrayal, acheiving great cinematic results. I will buy this one when it comes out on DVD–for posterity.

Two other things fascinated me. I’m sure Emilio purposely made it evident that the political atmosphere at that time was so parallel to today’s. The emphatic statement, “We shouldn’t be over there,” was made in the movie. How often do we hear that today? You feel the pain and fear of America then and are able to relate because we are living it today. Just the players are different.

The other thing that made me pause and reflect was the fact that everyone at the hotel was awaiting election results–in June. I guess that’s because electronic technology wasn’t as advanced as it is today so the primaries must have had to be held earlier, each state voting and reporting on different dates. You’ll also hear and see a reference to the first chads. Emilio didn’t miss a detail in my opinion.

This movie has it all–humor, history, tragedy, philosophy, social and civil rights issues. I think it’s incredibly cool that all these years later we can still feel–with such intensity– regret for a future we didn’t get to fully see. We’ll always wonder what might have been but the visionaries we lost made such a lasting impression on our society.

I can’t wait for the Academy Awards.