"W"

Did you see Oliver Stone pop his head up in the audience on Saturday Night Live last nigh?

I have not yet seen W but I plan to. I know a lot of you find Oliver Stone annoying, but I want to make an argument that he is less annoying than you think.

I think most people who are annoyed at Stone are annoyed because of one film: JFK (1991). This was an amalgam conspiracy film, bringing in every single known conspiracy idea regarding the tragic assassination of the President of the United States in 1963. But consider these two things; First, Stone has made quite a few films, and if you look at the entire list, there is no doubt that you fill find three or four, or perhaps quite a few more, that you like quite a bit. The second thing you should consider (and I may be way wrong here, but let's try it out) is that films like Platoon, The Doors, JFK, Nixon and now, perhaps W are not documentaries. Rather, they are films that are situated in a particular point of view. The chaotically insane world of the conspiracy theorist is the point of view for JFK, the collective memory of combat vets from Viet Nam serves this role for Platoon, and perhaps the gape-mouthed collective, multinational "WTF!!!" in which much of the modern world is at present relentlessly trapped is the point of view serving the movie "W."

Here is a review of "W" by a fellow sibling. Here's a bit of Oliver Stone on Bill Maher's show: