Review of JFK (1991) by Alex K — 14 Mar 2017

Oliver Stone's revisionist history lesson, "JFK," created a lot of controversy upon its release for embracing the conspiracy theories toward President Kennedy's assassination. Stone focuses the story on New Orleans DA Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner), who leads an investigation into the assassination and brings a case to trial against businessman Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones), whom Garrison believes was involved in a conspiracy to kill the President.

Garrison's investigation leads him to interview a wide range of government officials and civilians who may have knowledge of what happened. Stone broadly implicates everyone from the mafia to the KGB to LBJ to Castro and more for being responsible for the assassination.

This is pure speculation, and even if some of the theses are intriguing, Stone doesn't differentiate between fact and fiction. He wants to paint with a broad brush that points the finger at everyone.

Its a morally offensive approach that justifies conspiracy theories without reservation. The portrayal of Jim Garrison as a heroic figure is questionable and the relationship between Garrison and his wife (Sissy Spacek) is bland.

"JFK" is all exposition, and even if the movie holds our attention it has no dramatic arc. In filmmaking technique, Stone incorporates color with black and white, archival footage, photographs, and historical reenactments for the purpose of propaganda.

The large ensemble cast includes Joe Pesci, Gary Oldman as Lee Harvey Oswald, Donald Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Jack Lemmon, Walther Matthau, John Candy, Laurie Metcalf, Michael Rooker, Vincent D'Onofrio.

Won Oscars for Best Cinematography and Film Editing.