Parkland (2013)
Certified: 12
Duration: 94 minutes
Directed by: Peter Landesman
Starring: James Badge Dale, Zac Efron, Jackie Earle Haley, Colin Hanks, David Harbour, Marcia Gay Harden, Ron Livingston, Jeremy Strong, Billy Bob Thornton, Jacki Weaver, Tom Welling, Paul Giamatti, Brett Stimely
KRS release
Parkland is the behind-the-scenes story of what happened when president John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
The Dallas community is shocked and when the president’s body is taken to Parkland Hospital the shock is intense. Secret Service agent Kellerman (Tom Welling) is trying to get to grips with what has happened while the medical staff – Dr Carrico (Zac Efron), Dr Perry (Colin Hanks) and Nurse Nelson (Marcia Gay Harden) – have to treat their president.
Meanwhile, Abraham Zapruder (Paul Giamatti) ends up fascinated by the 8mm film that he has made of the president’s death, a film that is most probably the most important home movie ever made. Agent Sorrels (Billy Bob Thornton) wants to get things done without involving the press.
The world turns upside down when Lee Harvey Oswald (Jeremy Strong) becomes tagged as the killer. His mother Marguerite (Jacki Weaver) capitalises on the situation while his brother Robert (James Badge Dale) is not happy with the situation.
On the other end, agent Hosty (Ron Livingston) realises that some weeks before he had a chance to arrest Oswald but did not do so. If the news gets out, there will be hell to pay.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of president Kennedy. It was an event that shook and changed the world.
On screen there have been many cinematic investigations into what happened and what didn’t with Oliver Stone’s JFK (1991) being the best foray into this genre.
Parkland (produced by Tom Hanks and Bill Paxton’s production companies), based on the book by Vincent Bugliosi, is not out to investigate but rather to remember. Also, through the reactions of the characters, it wants to present a unique viewpoint on this event. The way the film looks through the eyes of hospital staff and secret service agents presents a unique point of view that works to the film’s merit as we go on a voyage that has been analysed many a time.
President Kennedy’s assassination left a hole in American history that is still felt today
In particular, director Peter Landesman shows a strong hand as he lays out the plan of the film and lets its structure evolve carefully. Everything starts off as a normal day and then, through Landesman’s use of newsreel footage, all the world turns upside down and what was routine suddenly becomes total chaos.
It is this descent into full-blown stricken chaos that pegs the film down in its opening moments.
The characters that we have already learnt enough about are turned on their heads as they are faced with both grief and panic. In this sense, the day that Parkland is investigating takes on the form of an ordeal for its protagonists.
Landesman is not about to analyse and hunt down all the conspiracy theories that are out there.
In fact it is more about a psychological form of healing. President Kennedy’s assassination left a hole in American history that is still felt today. In its own way the event has helped change America’s inward perspective to the world in general and its role in it.
On the narrative front, the film explores some unique avenues such as Zapruder’s selling of the film to Life magazine and also the behind-the-scenes peep into the Oswald family.
For the history buff, Parkland is the perfect film as it brings an added dimension and sense of perspective to an event that has often been told but not exactly in this manner.
It is a confident film that, apart from the analysis of the time when the event occurred, also serves well to pinch us into realising how much times have changed.
This is nowhere better seen than in Zapruder’s words and it’s in this sense of change that Parkland excels on a unique perspective.