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The film opens up with interposing footage of Bobby Kennedy on his campaign trail and what he had to say about the loss of Martin Luther King and what it meant to the world. The journey of this film, really captures the motion of the 60’s, and a kind of hopefulness and brightness that seemed to define the decade, amidst the fear of the greater use of new technology as applied to warfare, but also along with a rising culture of music and arts made further possible by advances in travel and technology as well. There were many interspersed currents in the 60’s, as well as a launch to the moon. And Bobby Kennedy as well as his brother Jack personified that hope that we could launch to something better, something inconceivable without a certain greatness that could lead us in a way that it could be found and grasped at and even held on to, bringing us towards something hereto for seemingly out of reach, not only without but within ourselves. After the opening scenes, this film slowed down a bit tending to developing characters, possibly spending a little too much time on some of the characters in the kitchen. But then it began to build up, as it introduced an ensemble of well known Hollywood greats, including Elijah Wood, Sharon Stone, Helen Hunt, Demi Moore, Anthony Hopkins, Lindsay Lohan, William Macy and many others. What you could really see in the actual footage of Bobby Kennedy, is just how he resonated with so many groups of people and segments and corners of society and walked right with them in street marches. He was one part a rock star, another an able and dynamite spokesmen, sincerely concerned with the downtrodden and oppressed, but able to stand strongly for them against the large opposition. The footage picked out was quite compelling in relating who Bobby was for those who hoped for him and those who he stood up for. Having already been a fixture in the White House, he seems not to have become high brow and above it all, but all the more willing to mix and mingle with the masses and tangle for them if needed. You also wonder, as you watch this movie, how Bobby's presence and vision might have further resonated to these days not only here in the U.S.A but internationally across a broad swath of countries in places as diverse as India, Russian, and Africa. At that time, there still seemed to be a aura of wonder about how far technology had come in a short period of time, after all people were getting around on horseback in NYC at the turn of the century, and now with objects now flying high in the sky, there seemed to be a looming question as to what the swift advance in technology would bring, although it certainly did bring excitement it could also bring society to the edge in ways not yet totally foreseen. Bobby already a leader in the country, now running for President, seemed to also bring forth a type of excitement rarely seen in a political candidate. He was way above political talk, as people were there first and foremost to see what he had to say. From the outtakes in this movie, which were nothing short of fantastic, we see Bobby right there with the people, a leader but not above them and their concerns, not only their individual concerns but for their concerns for where all this was going on a society wide basis and what it was all going to mean. Bobby seemed to be a leader who could look into the soul of the situation. There was a mélange of racial tension, tension over the Vietnam war, tension of a drug culture, over finding and stepping on new grounds in terms of the blossoming technology, tension over America’s leadership not only on the home front but in diverse lands all over the globe and people were looking for real leadership on all this and what Bobby had to say seemed to provide real hope and vision. The movie then weaved into the week at the hotel in preparation for the visit by then Senator Kennedy. As the stories weaved thru, we find some of the can do aspect of the 60’s, with a kind of spur of the moment aspects to it, without the knowledge of what the future would actually bring. One particularly interesting segment was with the character of Elijah Wood, and the character played by Lindsay Lohan, both deciding to get together despite her father’s opposition, kind of an epitome of the 60’s, where those with the more serious intentions, weren’t quite sure where those intentions were coming from and where they would actually go. They might be rebelling from but where were they going to in their rebellions? An acid trip was taken by two campaign members, who crossed paths with a hippie and imbibed in this psychedelic tour, which was aptly done to where they look through a door to the outer world and envisage footage from various scenes representing what was going on in the 60’s, some of it representing the potential crush of technology, some of it representing the potential exhilaration of technology such as the launch to the moon, and other scenes from problems abroad, faraway landscapes that could soon become problems for the good old U.S.A. This acid trip, was the wrong means but also symbolic of the way people wanted to open themselves up to the wider world and face it on head on and negotiate some agreeable terms with it. As that fateful moment approached in the hotel, the backdrop was a triumphant day, almost Romanesque in it proportions, and everybody was following the story of Don Drysdale’s record performance for 60 plus shutout innings as a pitcher for the L.A. Dodgers in the City of the Angels, the English term for Los Angeles one of the several major U.S. cities with a Spanish name. The later scenes including as Bobby entered the hotel were particularly well done, as the joy of his in person presence deeply resonated on the faces of those present, including the character played by William Macy, a mostly sincere but partially misguided person having a rough day, yet he was able to tune that out and focus on the wonder of the moment. Then also depicted really well was just how everybody seemed to hang on Bobby’s every word eagerly awaiting his next sentence and totally tuned in to what he had to say. Then it all comes crashing down with the shootings. Everybody knows the story but you still have to brace yourself for it in the movie. My thought was this is really going to hurt, with an emphasis on the word really. It was interesting that a guy walked out with two beautiful women friends from this movie after it ended, and one of them said she really felt bad. Fortunately, fully graphic details of the shooting were left out for the most part. Of course what happened, was terrible for Bobby himself, his family, his own personal future whatever it might have been and for all who knew him personally. But it was also a larger tragedy for all what might have been lost for this nation and this planet of nations, for the hopes of individual hearts that were looking for some real light and some leadership that they could sincerely trust. The potential was there for Bobby to be a two term President. And even if he wasn’t he still had a big Senate seat and could have had Martin Luther King type status in leading other’s at a grass roots level. Could he have been an effective President? More than likely, he already was as in some ways acting as President with some of the major decisions in his brother’s administration, and this was true of some other Presidency’s where for example Nixon was at times running the country during the Eisenhower administration for example. And then you wonder, given his hesitation to enter the race, if just staying a Senator from New York, would have kept him out of the line of fire. But then you think, why leaders can’t be brought to the total forefront without something like this happening. The final after moments of the shooting had a speech against violence by Bobby as the backdrop to the ensuing mayhem at the hotel and to our deep loss, he was the one of the victims of the violence he so eloquently spoke against. Not really being privy to his speeches back then, as a lot of movie goers wouldn’t have been, this was an awesome speech and there must have been others and there were others. In an earlier scene from the day, we have footage of the news coverage then with Walter Cronkite and Mike Wallace of 60 minutes fame looking young and dapper and the big sign on the wall in the background ominously had the date and the year of 1968 in big letters in prominence. Who knew then what the future held but there was a lot of hope and excitement that day, and I thought for this happening Bobby might still be with us even today. One of the campaign managers, broke out in anger at what happened and then sought the solace of the arms of a woman he has just met that night, as he reached out in pain. The touches around this film were just awesome, from this to an uninformed hotel manager, played by Anthony Hopkins, who asks amid the commotion what happened and in finding out he just gazes into space with detectable look of disbelief but also a look that captured the surreal aspects of the moment, that something this bad could really happen to us. This is an outstanding film, with outstanding buildup, from the nuances of individuals lives to the backdrop of the mysterious wider world that concerns us all and the good and evil found in it, and how our hopes can be personified in the good leader, a leader who can also define for us in part who we ourselves are in the new and changing world. The final scene was a series of stills with pictures of Bobby, sometimes with his brother both at a personal level and professional level against the sounds of a great soundtrack. This is just a great movie and a must see for the avid moviegoer
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