HIstorical Film Assignment on JFK - Movie Review Example

The Warren Commission headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren along with other investigating authorities such as House Select Committee FBI and Dallas police issued reports identifying Oswald as the sole assassin. A gallop poll conducted after 30 years of assassination indicates that 75% of Americans still believe in conspiracy theories (McCauley & Jacques, 1979). However, the conclusions made by these reports on assumption that Oswald was guilty, even triggered conspiracy theories about the involvement of federal agencies in the assassination (Kurtz, 1982).

JFK is a 1991 motion picture, which examines the various events leading to the murder of President John F. Kennedy as explored by New Orleans District Attorney, Jim Garrison. From his existing knowledge and what he learned about links to the murder subsequently, Garrison suspects several loopholes in FBI’s official story. He reopens investigation in 1966 after reading the warrens report, which convinced him of the numerous inaccuracies and conflicts in the government’s story. . Garrison presents evidence in court in the trial proceedings of Clay Shaw.

However, in the endings, Shaw was acquitted of those allegations and Garrison stated that he will continue to dig out the truth. Though director Oliver Stone was severely criticized for distorting history, his film provoked calls and eventually succeeded in declassification of few secret documents relevant to the assassination (Benoit, 1998). The character portraits were criticized of being unauthentic. For instance, the original character of Garrison was totally inverted and his personality was falsely portrayed as a sympathetic figure in the film.

The beating of Martin Jack, a historically dubious character, by Banister was exaggerated and the reasons altered in the film. The death of Ferrie was shown to be a murder, while he actually died of natural causes. Andrews’ claim about Shaw and Bertrand being the same person was falsely depicted in the film. In reality, Andrews totally denied this assumption and never testified to the fact. The witness Perry Russo, who was the key character in real Garrison’s case, was completely ignored and film substituted her with a fictional character O’Keefe (Smolla, 1992; Lambert, 1998).

The personality of Shaw was greatly distorted as an arrogant, overt homosexual, while in truth he was a respected individual. There was no such character as X in reality, but fictional and loosely based on Col. Prouty who actually had no access to secret service or inside information. JFK asserts that Lyndon Johnson reversed Kennedy's new withdrawal policy from the Vietnam War, while as evident from declassified documents, the memorandum was drafted when Kennedy was