Just because Oliver Stone directed W., people assume that it will be controversial.  The masses are expecting a hatchet job.  They are expecting a brutal portrayal of a man who many deem the worst President of their lifetimes.  He is a president that is so controversial, a film was made chronicling his life while he's still in office.  This sort of thing doesn't often happen.  The man is ripe for satire, his presidency a parade of blunders, and Oliver Stone, with writer Stanley Weiser, could have gone myriad directions with the script – what events to dramatize, what tone to use, how to characterize the first Cowboy President.  Fortunately for all of us, Stone took the most surprising and, ultimately, effective route: He gave Dubya every benefit of the doubt, never accused him of malice, never questioned his motives.  While this makes for about as non-controversial a film about Dubya as possible, it also makes, interestingly enough, the most damning case against his presidency. 

Stone relays the events of George W. Bush's life out-of-order.  We first see George where he's most comfortable, in center field of the Texas Rangers stadium, and then move to his fraternity hazing at Yale.  In his early adult life, Dubya is a disappointment at the least, an utter failure at the worst.  His father, George H.W. Bush, cannot hide his melancholy whenever in the presence of his Dubya.  His contempt is readily apparent.  W. veers back and forth between his early adult life, full of drinking and carousing, and his political career.  The scenes of Dubya as president focus on the lead-up to the Iraq War.  The film doesn't get too far past 2003, and it doesn't have to.  Oliver Stone makes his point.

To Oliver Stone and Stanley Weiser, Dubya is a man with good intentions, a reformed alcoholic who only wants to do what he thinks is right.  He gets by with a surprising amount of down-home charisma and political instinct.  Being a Born-Again Christian informs his life, and it allows him to rationalize the decisions he makes.  Stone's Dubya isn't stupid, either: he's just uninterested in being educated.  He hates reading (this, by all accounts, is undeniably true) and has disdain for nitty-gritty details.  As expressed in a particularly harrowing meeting, Dubya is a big picture guy.  He has no time or patience for pesky details. 

What could have been a boring film is made captivating by an amazing cast.  Josh Brolin manages to inhabit the spirit of Dubya without falling into the trap of impersonation.  We've been through eight years of the Dubya administration and, as a result, have collectively witnessed countless George W. impersonators.  Brolin forgoes many of the specific mannerisms and quirks of a typical impersonator and simply captures the essence of the man.  Brolin nails the voice, yes, but it's the physicality, the attitude that shines through.  Though you know that Dubya is woefully unqualified to take the job as President of the United States, Brolin makes you believe in the journey, makes you believe that this man could have ascended to the highest public office in the country.  And Elizabeth Banks does the impossible here as Laura Bush – she makes you not only like the character, but makes you understand Laura.  She is a rock for Dubya. 

James Cromwell's version of George H.W. Bush is as far away from a Dana Carvey impersonation as you could find.  His portrayal is the furthest off from how the real person actually acted and sounded like in, but it's also one of the better performances in the film.  He gives H.W. a quiet dignity, and it makes him the most sympathetic figure on hand.  Richard Dreyfuss is perfect as Dick Cheney, soft-spoken and manipulative, a man who knows how to steer the conversation towards his own intended destination.  Toby Young gives Karl Rove the weaselly smarm the character deserves, an evil political genius.  In many ways, Dubya is Rove's puppet, repeating the words and phrases that Rove has concocted.  Thandie Newton gives a disturbingly accurate portrayal of Condi Rice.  Her chirping cadence garnered a bevy of laughs from the audience I saw the film with.  Jeffrey Wright's Colin Powell is a sad figure, a man who is forced to sell out and endorse a war he doesn't believe in, simply in order to keep his job. 

By the end of the film, you actually kind of like Dubya.  That is, until you realize that he brazenly led the country into an unnecessary war under false pretenses.  In making W. as realistic and even-handed as possible, Oliver Stone gives us a George W. Bush that we can identify with.  We understand his motives, and realize that, in all likelihood, he's not the diabolical evil leader that many have painted him as.  And, by taking the high road, Stone has made a film that is an utterly damning take on a person who probably should not have even sniffed the American presidency.  If the film weren't based on fact, W. would be an unrealistic fairy tale, one so unbelievable that audiences would have laughed their way out of the theater.  The truth of the film gives it weight, however, and that's why it succeeds.


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of Lion's Gate)