Does the “W” Stand for “Wuss?”

Posted by Mister Hand (misterhand@filmschoolrejects.com) on October 16, 2008

Josh Brolin as W, The Decider

It’s an understatement to say I’m not a fan of the Bush Administration. So I must admit to being perhaps a tad overly delighted when I heard that Oliver Stone was going to make a biopic based on the life of our woefully unpopular sitting president. I predicted the film would be trashed by the right prior to its release, and the 20% who still approve of Bush’s job performance would call Stone a lefty slanderer without ever seeing the movie. If the tables were turned, I’d probably feel the same way.

But could it be that Stone’s film actually paints a sympathetic portrait of George W. Bush? According to this story from The Mercury News, that may very well be the case. In the article, Stone seems to indicate that he’s sympathetic to “The Decider.” And Josh Brolin, according to the story, “found much to admire” about Bush. Brolin says, “He has a strong will that gives him an unparalleled power to self-motivate. He’s not an idiot. He worked his butt off to become president.”

Some time ago, after reading that Stone had cut some of the more controversial elements from W., I wondered if the “bad boy” director had lost the nerve to be the unabashed rabble-rouser he proved himself to be with JFK and Nixon. After all, at the time, I considered Bush to be pretty much the worst person on the face of the planet. I wondered if I could be wrong.

This led me to Frontline’s documentary, Bush’s War. After watching the four hour special (which you can view in its entirety here), I have to say my opinion of Bush has been greatly modified. I still don’t like him, and I still believe he’s a terrible leader. But I no longer think he’s utterly corrupt. I think the decisions he made after 9/11 were well-intentioned, but ultimately misguided, and undone by his choice of incompetent advisors.

In the end, I think Brolin’s harshest statement in the Mercury News article pretty well sums up my feelings about Bush: “He’s constantly reacting but never taking any responsibility.”

I was planning on staying very far away from W.. For all the evil chuckles that the idea of the movie gave me, I was never psyched to actually see it. Frankly, I’d rather just forget the last eight years ever happened. But now I think I’m going to check it out. It’s got a pretty decent score on Rotten Tomatoes, after all, and I must admit I am now intrigued to see if Stone can actually make me like the guy.

What do you think?

Related Reading:

Comment Policy: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Film School Rejects reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. We also reserve the right to modify any curse words in your comments and make you look like an idiot. Thank You!

Trace

I believe Stone said something along those same lines, that the President was not corrupt, but misguided. It didn't sound like anybody was rooting for the man, but it sounded like Stone was trying to establish a little clarity and enlighten people.

The previews make it look funny as hell. The part that comes to mind is when Brolin's "W" character challenges Bush, Sr. What does he say? "Bring it on old man?"

Also, yeah, Bush has a low approval rating. Stone could have pulled a Michael Moore on us and fed us some trash, further fueling the ire some people feel toward the administration, but it appears he's taking the high road.

But if you want to call people out on their numbers and ratings, how about our Democrat-run Congress, whose approval rating is even lower than Bush's? And people want another Democrat in the higher office...

Mister Hand

Polls show that when people are asked what they think of Congress as a whole, the numbers are very low. However, if you go district by district and state by state, you'll find that the Democratic incumbents individually score very high. It has been a fact of polling for decades that as a single entity, Congress polls low. But when you ask people what they think of their specific representative, those numbers are typically far better, whether Democrat or Republican.

But the proof is in the pudding. I do believe that Obama is going to be elected, and that the Democrats will gain seats in both the House and Senate. When that happens (I could be wrong, but I feel fairly confident), I think you'll find you have to parse the polling for Congress a little further before drawing conclusions.

Troy

$20 says it sucks. And protrays randomness that stone thinks would fit in HIS story of some guys life, not the story of President Bush's life.

movie fan

Josh Brolin did a convincing Dubya, though he reminded me a lot of his cowboy character from No Country for Old Men... over all, i don't doubt that 'W.' will have the effect Oliver Stone desired

Does the “W” Stand for “Wuss?”

Related Topics:

Related Reading: