Bobby
By Mal Simons, Blockbuster.co.uk

“He saw wrong and tried to right it. He saw suffering and tried to heal it. He saw war and tried to stop it.”

Written and directed by long time Bobby fan Emilio Estevez (who was about 5 years old when Kennedy was assassinated); Bobby is an unmissable multi-character drama covering the day of Senator Robert Kennedy’s assassination in 1968. Bobby features an amazing cast that includes Anthony Hopkins, Demi Moore, Christian Slater, Sharon Stone, Elijah Wood, William H Macy, Lindsay Lohan, Shia LaBeouf and more.

As a backdrop to the story, 1968 was one of the most pivotal points in recent American history. There were race riots following the death of Martin Luthor King and Malcolm X; the civil rights movement was gaining momentum, people were becoming more aware of the inequalities in their society and more aware of poverty in American society; young people were being drafted to fight the war in Vietnam (the average age of a frontline soldier was 19); and the country was divided on where to go next. America was in turmoil.

For an entire generation, it was widely believed that only one man was capable of uniting the country and healing the wounds in society – that man was Senator Robert Kennedy, or Bobby, the brother of former President John F Kennedy, a man widely regarded as someone who wanted to end the suffering of people and put America back on the right path.

The film follows twenty two different characters including hotel staff, campaign workers and hotel guests as they prepare for the visit of Senator Kennedy. Anthony Hopkins stars as a retired doorman who has devoted so much of his life to the hotel that he spends most of his time playing chess in the hotel lobby; William H Macy is the hotel manager Paul Ebbers with Sharon Stone playing his wife, the hotel hairdresser; Emilio Estevez himself stars as the husband to Demi Moore, the hotel’s alcoholic singer Virginia Fallon; Christian Slater stars as the hotel’s kitchen manager with Laurence Fishburne as the head chef and Freddy Rodriguez as one of the Mexican Kitchen workers.

Other characters include a married couple visiting the hotel for the night (played by Martin Sheen & Helen Hunt); a couple of Kennedy campaigners (played by Shia LaBeouf & Brian Geraghty) and a girl (Lindsay Lohan) due to marry a boy (Elijah Wood) from her school, to save him from being sent to war in Vietnam. There is also a memorable appearance by Demi Moore’s bf Ashton Kutcher, as a rich drug dealer working out of the hotel. Heather Graham, Joshua Jackson, and Harry Belafonte also star.

Each of these stories interweave with one another, all ultimately coming together at the end of the film. Not only is this handled cleverly by the script but this has been brilliantly directed and edited so that the stories are intercut and moved forward by clips of the real-life Bobby on the campaign trail. It was a good decision not to cast an actor in the role of Robert Kennedy as using the real footage really adds to the impact of the film and the loss that we all feel at the film’s climax.

Bobby is one of the best films of the year – probably of the last ten years. An important film that is as relevant today as it would have been back then. There are standout performances by all the cast involved and some strong (much needed) comic relief at certain points from Transformers (2007) star Shia LeBeouf as a campaign worker who drops acid with Ashton Kutcher’s character. This is highly recommended to rent. Add to your list now.