The 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s death is marked by the release of Parkland, vying for exposure amongst a plethora of documentaries and dramas on TV. As I am very interested in American politics, and I really enjoyed the book this film is based on (4 Days in November by Vicent Bugliosi), this is a film that I have been looking forward to for a while.
The story of that fateful day in Dallas and the 3 that followed it, is told from a number of different perspectives. There are the FBI men who may have missed vital warning signs, the secret service detail that failed to protect the President, the staff at Parkland hospital who tried in vain to save him, Abraham Zapruder who shot the famous images of the assassination and the family of the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. In fact, the main protagonists, JFK, his wife and Oswald are all peripheral figures at best.
Whilst these different viewpoints do give some insight, the running time of little over an hour and a half (and I suspect a small budget) means that none of those storylines are developed as well as they could have been. It is not very often that I find myself wishing that film could be longer (Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion was the last notable example) but I feel that a real opportunity has been missed.
The plot structure could easily have supported a film of twice the length, portraying a detailed minute by minute account of the proceedings following the same plot lines.
Having said that, there is still plenty to hold your interest, especially some of the little known detail that is revealed. The time taken to get Kennedy medical treatment is startling and the squabbling over who should have the body both shocking and distasteful.
There is also a fascinating depiction of the frantic attempts to adapt Air Force One to enable the coffin to be transported back to Washington. It is very clear that the authorities were not prepared for such an attack, and along with there just being one amateur film of the event, shows how different things were then to how they would be now.
Of the ensemble cast, old hands Paul Giamatti (Zapruder) and Billy Bob Thornton (as the head of the secret service team) stand out. Jacqui Weaver enjoys chewing the scenery as Oswald’s demented mother and James Badge Dale brings some real dignity to the role of her other son, Robert.
So, this is probably not a film that will be held in the esteem of Oliver Stone’s JFK. It is a much more straightforward telling of the story that doesn’t cover any of the conspiracy theories surrounding Kennedy’s death. However, it is a solid little film that sits in the ‘worth a watch’ pile.