Terribly flawed film

Rating: 1/10 (16 March 2008)

I gave this film an awful rating. Theatrically this film is brilliant. However it is presented as a docu-drama. For that reason Stone is required to present only facts. He can call it a fictional movie if he likes, however he uses historical characters and an historic event and attempts to portray them as truth. Nowhere does he say, "I made most of this movie up." He states that he takes some artistic license with the facts, however that is simply not allowed in this type of movie.
This movie is based loosely on a book by Jim Garrison. That could be another reason to play with the facts, however Stone is required as a historian to verify facts. He doesn't.
Stone obviously did a lot of research making this film. How, then, does he get the time to shoot wrong? The span of time between shots can easily be ascertained by the Zapruder film, yet Stone gets this wrong. Why? It doesn't fit with his theory. Stone then conveniently ignores the seating arrangements in the president's limo. Connolly was sitting inboard and lower than Kennedy, and therefore the bullet didn't go "back and to the left." It went in a straight line until hitting Connolly's rib, which deflected it.
There are far too many flaws to point out here. Why was Oswald handing out fliers in the area? He worked a block away. Who is Willie O'Keefe? Nobody. Yet he is presented as a historical figure. Oswald was picked up at the Texas Theater for killing police officer J.D. Tippit; not for killing Kennedy. Stone reports that this is not true, yet it has been proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Oswald killed him.
I could go on and on. This movie doesn't just play with the facts. It makes them up.