Nature might stand up

 

Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy, Max Casella as Jack Valenti

JFK Revisited:  Through the Looking Glass  (2021)

Jackie  (2016)

Parkland  (2013)

JFK  (1991)

(these movies can be watched on Amazon Prime)

        Watching these helps me build more understanding of and perspective on the assassination of President Kennedy.

Discussing one of these movies recently, it occurred to me -- All through JFK, and the others as well, I'm having to say in my mind, 'You know, it may not have been exactly like that -- they're putting in stuff that makes sense for the story the movie is telling -- poetic license; artistic license...'

"Camelot in smithereens" one week before the Camelot symbolism for JFK's Thousand Days was created - ?

Did Jacqueline Kennedy and Robert Kennedy really disagree about how the funeral procession should be?

Did Jack Valenti really stonewall Jackie about the funeral plans, and B-S her the way it looks like he did in 2016's Jackie?

Was the Oswald family really denied services by all Dallas-area churches, as it shows in Parkland?

Or were these things and others embellished or invented to show, or underscore, important parts of the true story?

the true story

the absolute truth

the truth as seen and experienced by various different people

_____________________________

I thought, why do I watch these movies?  Doesn't it just make it harder for me to see what I can, of the real picture? -- because I have to wonder what is true from the books and documentaries, and then watching movie-movies -- Jackie, Parkland, JFK -- which are not documentaries -- I have to really wonder what's true as far as facts and emphases, because they can show things a certain way, for the sake of the story.  Because they're making a movie, not reporting news or writing history.

        On the other hand, these movies are not "fiction."  Like -- we don't suddenly see a Martian spaceship land in the middle of Dealey Plaza, halting the motorcade, and little green men disembark from it to "Na-Nu Na-Nu" everybody.

These movies are telling a story that is true, in the style the artists choose.

        I realized -- it seems like it would make sense to decide, 'I won't watch movies about the subject, I'll stick to reading books and watching documentaries and You Tube videos.'

        But then my conclusion is the opposite:  it isn't "more work" to decipher the truth from the movies about the truth -- telling the story of what happened, and what was done.  'Cause even with the books and documentaries, what some people say may be slanted, or patently untrue.  They can leave stuff out.

        And what the artistic movies do is help the viewer see different perspectives, and consider things from a variety of angles.  Watching them helps the mind to analyze.

        They let us see.

____________________________

"His life was gentle; and the elements

So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up

And say to all the world, THIS WAS A MAN!"

~ Julius Caesar

    Shakespeare

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