Review of Parkland (2013) by Peter C — 27 Nov 2013

Think Casualty with a bigger budget.

Think stifled tears, sombre music and a stream of God bless you's.

Think an endless parade of square-jawed men sporting trilby hats and long black overcoats.

Think "is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?".

Think everything you've ever read, heard or watched about the assassination of the 35th President of the United States - sensationalist Channel 5 documentaries, warped internet conspiracy theories and the weighty tome that is Oliver Stone's JFK - and park them all to one side.

Parkland is a laudable, if at times limp, attempt to shed new light on one of the most controversial events of the twentieth century.

Rather than focus on the ifs, buts and maybes, it wisely and matter of factly reconstructs how the events of 22 November 1963 affected those who were innocently caught up in the immediate aftermath of the shooting - the medical team, local news reporters, an unwitting cameraman and the brother of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Towards the end of the film, a sombre news anchor concludes: "What has happened here has been too much, too ugly and too fast." I wish, however, the same could be said about this film.

Sure, there is a lot of "much", particularly during the first quarter of an hour which paints an accurate picture of the confusion, chaos and clamour which no doubt raged through the sun-kissed streets, smoky newsrooms and hospital wards of Dallas, Texas.

And there is also a lot of "much" - perhaps too much - in the number of storylines and characters it tries to cram into an hour and half of much furrowed ground.

But for most of the film there is a distinct lack of "ugly" (dramatic action or edge) or "fast" (it all gets a bit sombre and pedestrian).

The only light relief comes in the form of Lee Harvey Oswald's mother who, intentionally or not, is depicted as a cross between Dame Edna Everage and Mary Whitehouse. Upon learning that one of her sons has become the most wanted man in the world, she triumphantly declares: "I will never be ordinary again.".

She wasn't. But the film, for the most part, sadly was.

3/5.