Nexus of a Whole Generation

Rating: Null/10 (26 January 2001)

Spoilers herein.
Usually I'm in the game for the filmmaking -- the Ollie Stone stuff if you will -- and get upset when the film relies wholly on script and acting. Plus, Costner annoys the heck out of me. But this film really works because it is relentless and because, well because it effectively captures an event which changed the world. I truly believe that no other two week period in the past half century has had as much societal effect.
I was in 10th grade in the Norfolk Virginia area during this period. Our high school and homes were opened to the navy dependents evacuated from Gitmo. Their dads and ours were the eyeballs and fists employed in this enterprise. We were certain we would all die. We traveled with money and medical records sewn into our clothes in the event that we were instantly orphaned and survived in some horrible state.
So much came out of what was distilled in this event. The hippy movement, both the peace part and the reckless drug part. The U2s flew out of `Area 51' and the military's obfuscating cover stories deliberately spawned a UFO culture that is still with us. So odd: a militarily manufactured counterculture.
The strong desire to hit the Soviets was pushed back (twice!) by Kennedy's levelheadedness. But the military was later able to flummox Johnson into Vietnam. Lemay had been pushing a first strike for 14 years by then and had actually arranged to steal bombs from Sandia in 1950. That is why today the weapons are under Department of Energy control, supposed civilians.

The point is that the story is so central to our modern existence as people that it has a rich mine to exploit -- and it does, so very effectively. Watching this, one wonders first how we could have lost these two. And more to the point, how we could produce our current President Gomer. How do you think he will deal with situations like this? That was the real fear this film created, zooming in from the past.
An aside: the props and weapons are carefully researched, as was the inclusion of young Lawford whose dad pimped Marilyn to Jack as a reward.