'W'haddya know

The penultimate scene of Oliver Stone's clever new biopic, "W.", shows the embattled president walking furiously through the White House, after having just bombed at a press conference. Asked if he had made any mistakes, the character Bush stumbles, sweats, and equivocates, before finally giving up. This scene would be brutally awkward, except that it actually happened. Check it out here.

This tension marks a lot of this film, which, for all of its short comings, proves to be one of the best of the year. As we follow an angry, aggressive Bush through his up-and-down life, we are so enraptured by the great performances that we forget that all of these things really happened! Its a testament to the filmmakers that they so gracefully executed an intriguing story while sticking to the fact; that they made history so romantic.

And by Romantic, I mean that this is a love story...but also that there is Livy in it, too. In fact, the best scenes of the film involve W and the love of his live, and the second best involve the title character and those Bruti and Cassiuses that drive to pull the strings. For all the President's shortcomings, no one can say that he was a bad husband or father, and and earnest and devoted son, and the film never loses this perspective. The historical tragedy, well, that needs more perspective, but its enough for this film to contemplate the early days of the war in Iraq, and ask how the personality of the president did, or didn't, affect those decisions.

As W., Josh Brolin turns in an oscar-worthy performance, at once hilarious and sympathetic, edgey and nuanced. It's a cinematic character, not a SNL rip-off. It seems that in every scene W stops just short of saying what he wants to -- to his father, to his political opponents, and allies -- but Brolin, with the help of his director, conveys so much without speaking, and we can't help but complete his sentences.

And then there's the elephant in the room. Yes, this movie is political. It's about the sitting president. And yes, Stone takes some pot-shots that let the latte-sippers have a good laugh at the President's expense. No, Republicans will probably not enjoy a trip to the theater for this one. But that doesn't mean this movie is polemic, or even satire. Each and every political swing is tempered by an appreciation for W the man, for W the historical figure.

This movie was filmed in forty-some odd days. It was an experiment. It had the budget and the cast of a hollywood movie, but the haste of a USC thesis film. As such, cut it some slack. This movie is entertaining in ways that so few films are. It speaks volumes. When the historians and essayists go back, they might very well see it differently. But for all the loose ends and hasty patchwork, Brolin and Stone have delved deep and made a very enjoyable 129 minute film. And in so doing, they have conceived of the President in a way lost on so many others, yet so undeniably true: that his was an American story. 7.9