MY FIRST REAL PAIN

I was a senior in high school when JFK was murdered. This was the first president I was going to be able to vote for and I was excited. To have been alive and old enough to realize what was going on during this tumultuous era was very eerie. There was so much turmoil and hatred you did not have a clear thought for years.

With the release of the movie JFK by Oliver Stone, this period reinforced itself on me once again. It did not matter what party you believed in, the fact of the matter is this was a horrible time. Most people that viewed this film thought it was too unbelievable to be real. I cannot imagine why they will not believe this theory when they believe the one presented by the government.

Kevin Costner and Sissy Spacek (PLEASE do not give me hell about my spelling!!) did a remarkable job. Oliver Stone did supply a lot of facts that were previously not released and made you consider his theory for at least a while. I had no trouble with the bullet theory. The bull that was handed out at the time was less believable.

This movie did not always paint JFK in a favorable light. Let's face it, he was a questionable president, but his ideals and beliefs were based on sound judgment. Unfortunately, we will never know just how the world would have evolved had he lived. The movie touched on, but did not go into a lot of detail, all of the stress and decisions faced by the president. Viet Nam, King, Bay of Pigs.

Stone touched on the fact (did I say touched?) that Kennedy opposed most powers in office during his time - mainly Hoover. He also alludes to the fact that Kennedy had Mafia ties and perhaps these ties got out of control. His theories on the impossibility of Oswald's shooting frenzy lead you to believe once again what you felt when living this experience. Every thing just seemed "too perfect", too easy.

Costner's speech on the magic bullet theory - come on, if you view everything he is saying, how could they possibly tell us it was not true? I think his speech was one of the best things of the entire movie. It drew a lot of attention to detail and really started my brain stem pumping.

If you were not alive during his history making era, this is probably is just decent but not great movie fare to you. If these scenes are a little too graphic and thought provoking, then you must have been there for the telling. I recommend this movie to everyone.