W.

Starring

Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Banks, James Cromwell, Ellen Burstyn, Richard Dreyfuss, Jeffrey Wright, Thandie Newton, Scott Glenn, Toby Jones

Directed by Oliver Stone

Oliver Stone is a genius filmmaker. I am perfectly aware that his movies do not serve as factual representations of history, particularly his films about past U.S. presidencies ("Nixon," "JFK"). But Stone is a master of hinting at a larger truth that looms above the facts – and, aside from his dreadfully dull "Alexander" (2004), he is incapable of making a boring movie. Great filmmaking is apolitical; you do not have to agree with Stone’s rebel-rousing to appreciate the brilliance of his work.

When Stone announced earlier this year that his latest film would document the life and times of President George W. Bush, audiences expected something along the lines of Michael Moore’s "Fahrenheit 9/11" (2004) – a damning indictment of the Bush presidency.

The fact of the matter is, nobody needs a movie to tell them that Dubya is a terrible president – and perhaps Stone took note of that. His new film "W." is something else entirely – not a conspiracy theory, not a propagandist film – but a genuinely sad film about a genuinely sad man. The movie is tinged with tragedy, dealing with the Shakespearean saga of father-son battles between W. (Josh Brolin) and George Bush, Sr. (James Cromwell), which inadvertently leads to an unlikely Presidency and a misguided War in Iraq.

Don’t get me wrong – Stone has not softened in the least with this film. "W." will likely anger conservatives for being too harsh, and anger liberals for not being harsh enough. Stone lets the Bush story speak for itself, which perhaps is a more controversial approach than simply condemning the man.

"W." opens with the early days of Bush, as he leaps from a hard-partying Yale graduate, to a lazy oilman, to a drunkard embarrassment to the Bush family name. Standing in the tall shadow of Poppy Bush (who shows favoritism to Dubya’s more politically-suited brother Jeb), Bush resembles a biblical Cain who doesn’t quite have the guts to kill Abel or Adam. Turning points come when he marries librarian Laura Welch (Elizabeth Banks), and experiences a monumental conversion to Christianity. The political career that follows is infamous; he is elected Governor of Texas in 1994, and then, with God on his side, takes the Presidency at the dawn of the twenty-first century.

Brolin is outstanding as Dubya. Not even after astounding performances in last year’s "No Country for Old Men" and "American Gangster" did I expect Brolin to be this incredible – he finds the depth and humanity in an unlikable lead character. With the wrong actor, the role of Bush could have been made into a Saturday Night Live impersonation, but Brolin captures both the humor and the tragedy in Bush.

His costars are equally impressive. Cromwell and Banks are both extremely effective in their respective roles, and Ellen Burstyn is fiery fun as Barbara Bush, although she doesn’t have a lot of screen time. In the Bush Administration Cabinet, the casting is sublime – Richard Dreyfuss is insanely frightening as Vice President Dick Cheney, Scott Glenn is a snarling bitter Donald Rumsfeld, and Toby Jones is a conniving Karl Rove. My favorite supporting performance may go to Jeffrey Wright as General Colin Powell, who seems to be the only Cabinet member with a sense of decency and moral obligation. There are a few long scenes that play as extended manuscripts of Bush Cabinet meetings, and they make for fascinating entertainment. Bush says little; he simply watches befuddled as Cheney proposes the invasion of Iraq, Powell argues with his peers, Condoleezza Rice (Thandie Newton) whispers something in that strange voice of hers, and Rove sits ominously in the dark, pulling his puppet strings. They make for some of the most fascinating material in "W.," and are strangely insightful.

And then, Stone throws us a dream sequence in which Dubya and Poppy Bush come face-to-face, dueling in the Oval Office with harsh words and fists.

"W." closes with Bush standing in an empty baseball stadium, decked out in Texas Rangers memorabilia, ruminating on his life and failings, and what all the bits and pieces – the Iraq War, Jeb, following in Poppy’s footsteps, Saddam Hussein, Jesus, his daughters – can possibly mean. Oliver Stone shows us a Bush who knows that he might have done something wrong, but he cannot possibly pinpoint where he went wrong. As Bob Dylan sings as the end credits roll, Dubya “had God on his side,” but at the end of the day, the field was empty, and nobody was applauding.

"W." is one of the best films of the year.

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