He didn't want to go out on a limb like he did with JFK . Film critic Roger Ebert says Stone's critics miss the point. He was very offended because he thought the movie was dishonest from beginning to end. But Oliver Stone is myth-making, and it's legitimate for movie directors to do that. According to the Movies .
Stone bristles at that.
It's absolutely ludicrous. A movie always could be challenged on those conditions. I think that if people are really serious about a subject, they will watch a movie and move on, if the movie interests them, to study. Perhaps, but Stone's views are more powerful than historians' because so many more people see movies than read history books, says Carnes. Stone's simplified interpretations are easier to grasp than the complex details of actual events, he adds.