I was freshly graduated from college and readying to enter the Army. Memories of that time are especially clear, despite the nearly fifty year gap.
The Chappaquiddick tragedy clearly ended any real chance of a Ted Kennedy presidency. If you believe the script he never really wanted to be President in the first place. Most of us will never know.
I recently trekked out to catch an early showing of John Curran’s venture into the Kennedy family and its complexities.
Failing to painstakingly research all that is known about the incident, I have no way of knowing what is fact and what is fiction in the film. There are lots of scenes depicted that may or not be real.
Australian Jason Clarke plays Kennedy. The resemblance created is quite good and he tries hard to mimic the Kennedy Boston accent, but like most comes up short.
Ironically Clarke was born one day before the Chappaquiddick incident.
The telling of the story is quite good and compelling. The casting is also solid with veterans like Ed Helms, Clancy Brown and Taylor Nichols playing Joseph Gargan, Robert McNamara and Ted Sorensen respectively. The scenes surrounding the Kennedy confidants scurrilously trying to cook up a believable scenario to make it all go away I found comical. Having said that, it is very hard to laugh when people are desperately trying to lie away a young woman’s tragic death.
Kate Mara, sister of Rooney Mara, plays Mary Jo Kopechne. Although her screen time is limited she portrays a sense of dignity and purpose, a sad reminder of a good person needlessly lost.
It is somewhat strange that this entourage of Kennedy’s are all gathering for a party with “The Boiler Room” girls while Neil Armstrong and crew are approaching a miraculous rendezvous with the Moon, a mission commissioned by none other than JFK!
The aftermath of the tragedy is hard to endure. The dogmatic approach that Kennedy takes with his best friend, Joe Gargan and others is unsettling. It seems that he has had every shortcoming and transgression fixed for him and this mother of all mistakes will be no different, because a Kennedy never gives up. The scenes showing Kennedy fooling with a neck brace to garner some “sympathy” are hard to watch. I can still see him on television with the ridiculous brace secured about his neck.
It’s hard to believe that nearly fifty years has elapsed since that fateful night. It’s equally hard to believe that no one has taken this story to the screen until now.
In the end, rather than resigning he takes his case to the voters of his beloved Massachusetts on prime time television to determine his political fate, his friend Gargan dutifully holding the cue cards for his plea.
While his chance to sit in the Oval Office disintegrated, he of course went on to become one of the most powerful Senators in history. Countless pieces of legislation bear his name.
Overall this is a well made film with flaws. Nonetheless, I recommend seeing it to those who were around when it all happened and to those too young to remember.
