JFK(1991) by Oliver Stone

Back, and to the left... back, and to the left... back, and to the left.

When you create space for a lie, in any situation where it can evolve undisturbed, it will grow, and subsequent developments will quickly become unpredictable and uncontrollable. This should not surprise or anger anyone, as it is a natural part of human nature. Studies on lying (i.e. the conscious and interested modification of the truth) show that when it is not necessary, it has only pathological explanations. We are not talking about those, but we ask ourselves honestly: When is lying necessary? Are there such situations?

Are lies always immoral or condemnable? The answer to the last question is clear: NO!

When a lie is applied to someone who cannot handle the truth, when it is meant to cover an unpleasant event that has already happened and without foreseeable consequences; generally, when it aims to spare someone or postpone a tragic outcome that can still be avoided (a patient with an uncertain and bad diagnosis, a partner who something could upset or offend for no reason, etc.), then lying can become a meritorious, honorable, and dignified gesture. Only toxic, speculative, abusive, or conceited lies are to be condemned. The movie I recommend in the following is representative of falsification, counterfeiting, and manipulation.

Jim Garrison, the character embodied by Kevin Costner in Oliver Stone's JFK, tells us that in this story, we are dealing with the greatest lie ever imposed on the American people. I don't know the truth, but I believe he is not wrong because the film takes on a controversial case even in the official version (the assassination on November 22, 1963, of the sitting President John F. Kennedy), wrapped in many speculations and assumptions of the press, to which he himself adds others with little or no support in historical truth.

The Kennedy case is a great lie from start to finish, camouflaged in mystification, deepened in deceit, and packaged in deception, and the lack of a reference truth means that things do not stop here, as even 50 years after the fateful event, we still build new scenarios, original versions, and unassessed conspiracies.

Oliver Stone, a very talented director, especially when it comes to documentary films, has proven his skill here in more than one way and in more than one way. The alert, journalistic-style narrative, interspersed with behind-the-scenes scenes and short screenings of other events related by the characters in the film (or depositions of witnesses in the trial), is filmed by hand and in real-time. Mixing some of the Warren Report's conclusions with media speculation of questionable information quality on an equal footing; but also introducing strictly personal uncertainties into the plot makes this production an important artistic event, a great cinematic event, and a shattering testimony.

"To sin by silence when we should protest makes cowards of men." - Ella Wheeler Wilcox

It's a lively movie about JFK by Oliver Stone. This is partly due to the cast, which is flawless and largely made up of an elite group of actors from that time who have since been confirmed as excellent.

Furthermore, the film's construction is centered around key scenes, such as the theory of the magic bullet, the Bay of Pigs invasion, the David Ferrie episode, the Clay Shaw episode (a standout performance by Tommy Lee Jones), Oswald's strange behavior, the Bill Broussard episode, the Guy Bannister episode, the hypothetical version of the assassination, and the score by "X," voiced by Martin Sheen. The on-location shots combined with original scenes from the famous Abraham Zapruder film give the movie an extraordinarily dramatic and persuasive power. It's almost regrettable to learn that things didn't really happen the way they're portrayed in the movie and that for 189 minutes (which fly by unnoticed), you've only participated in another hypothesis peppered with inconsistent, one-time-use arguments for cinematic purposes.

I think this is one of the main messages of Oliver Stone's JFK: that you can highlight all the implications of a lie with another lie. Or, in simpler terms, to discredit a lie with its own weapons.