W.

It has been said that a President seeks equanimity by fulfilling in his office that which he could not fulfill in his life. In the film W., Oliver Stone makes the case that George Bush is driven by an almost incorrigible need for approval. His relationship with his father, George H.W. Bush, grounds the movie and provides a gravity for the rest of the surroundings. The senior Bush plays upon this insecurity in order to motivate his son. George W. Bush applies for Harvard just so he can step out from beyond the shadow of his father. Short of attending, he quits before he begins. The only problem is that his father pulled the strings. Nothing more is said about the matter, but nothing else needs to be said: it is assumed that he attends Harvard and graduates so that he can do one thing beyond the long reach of his father. When the two nearly descend into a wrestling match, the act itself doesn't matter. They are constantly wrestling in Bush’s head.

It is this tenet that provides the drumbeat of the film, and as it switches between W.'s past and the 2002 preparations for the Iraq war, certain parallels can be drawn. The movie would not have worked if the audience doubted W's authenticity. With his approval ratings at an all time low, it would be easy to cast blame on him. Instead, even in moments of tragedy there is seldom any darkness because Bush is so charismatic and bluff, and the tragedy that does exist is Bush himself. He is easy to read and always goes with his gut, never attempting to placate anyone by an effacing act. When he decides to get into the family business, it is because of the celestial configurations of fate, and when he runs for the Presidency, it is because he has an almost prescient glimpse of coming events. Something big is going to happen, he says with conviction as if channeling the will of God, and his country needs him.

When Bush says that he wants to eradicate evil, there is no doubt of his authenticity. There is an underlying belief with Bush that in refusing to depose Saddam Hussein, the people of the United States didn't respect his father, and as he creates his own war, he seeks to get out from under his family's shadow and become his own man. He thinks he can do something his father never did, which is spread democracy throughout the world. Jeb Bush is rarely shown, but he is always waiting in the shadows as the superior statesmen and a favorite of his father (or so W. Bush perceives).

During many of the modern set pieces, the movie shifts gears to a more intellectual pace, which is fascinating if only to capture the prevailing headwinds of the time and provide tension between the characters. George Bush knows what he needs to do but is frustrated with the tenuous trail that leads him to Saddam's door. Cheney enters the oval office and stands off to the side, and then later he speaks to Bush alone during lunch, whispering in his ear. It is at this moment that the confidence the two men have in each other becomes obvious and is one of the few scenes that Bush shares alone with anyone. Cheney himself seems to be interested in empire building, though he only seems to speak of it for a moment. Karl Rove is interested in Bush's political career. Colin Powell is the only one who tries to make an argument against the war and comes out more admirable in the process.

I have not seen Stone’s other political movies, but I imagine that the liberties he takes with the events are vast. Oliver Stone transposed many details from the books Bush Tragedy and First Son. Stone quotes a line from Brent Scowcroft via the book State of Denial: "George W. couldn't decide whether he was going to rebel against his father or try to beat him at his own game. Now, he had tried at the game, and it was a disaster.” And yet Scowcroft himself has come out and said that he never provided information for the book. In politics the truth is hard to find, and only history may someday reveal the veracity of the men who rise to power.