A Very Important Piece of Film

Rating: 9/10 (1 October 1999)

Oliver Stone is the first director of the post 70's generation of autuers to have his own distinct style. That style has never been more effective. His message has never been more important of contraversial. That message hits us at America's quietly descending core, a piece of what this country stands for. Oliver Stone literally looks us in the face and tells us that this country is what we make of it, and if we step back and let power and greed run the country for us, that power will be abused. And it has. And it was. Stone combines all the most plausable theories into one massive opus that makes a powerful movie. Although specifics are distorted and some "facts" may have been omitted, the truth lies within what he shows and embellishes. The constant jump cut and total scattering of ideas and theories in this film lend the past a frustrated feeling of distance. The film is three hours, but the pacing is so fast and relentless, it just glides by like a slide show at a million miles a minute. You have to watch it twice to catch it all. I must also add, whatever is not true in this film, and that's a lot less than many may be led to believe, this movie is not a documentary. It uses the past and creates a conflicting myth to the one that is official, in school text books, but only believed by 30% of the nation. This time period was so ill handled and miss documented, that an alterior myth is something special and daring. It just may inspire people to look up what's official and what's not, what's real, or fictional. And this applies to both the Warren Report and Oliver Stones' Collage. It may even get a few people to demand the truth, to vote, to take part in a government that revolves around that very action. This is a noble film that never demands the audience believe what it sees. It show a completely opposite perspective that 70% of us have thought possible since that fateful day. It's a great film achievement in every sense of the phrase. It is Oliver Stone's best.