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Review

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

Writer/director Peter Landesman's feature debut is an as-it-happened, on-the-ground reconstruction of the events of 22 November 1963, when a dying President John F Kennedy was rushed to Parkland hospital in Dallas, followed a day later by his assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. The fidelity to the "lone gunman" theory may irk conspiracy theorists, but in sticking to the facts known on the day and focusing on ordinary people at work - from medic to Secret Service agent via coroner and priest - this assured, involving and personal view of history cuts through the myth, its realism enhanced by cinematographer Barry Ackroyd's sun-bleached palette. From a note-perfect ensemble cast, Marcia Gay Harden and Zac Efron stand out as doughty head nurse and shell-shocked junior doctor in the fraught, gory, politically sensitive ER sequences. Also making an impression are James Badge Dale as Oswald's bemused brother, Mark Duplass as loyal presidential aide Kenny O'Donnell and Paul Giamatti as amateur film-maker Abraham Zapruder, whose 8mm record of the shooting causes his life to change before our eyes. Only a grandstanding Jacki Weaver as Oswald's deluded mother breaks the film's cumulatively empathic spell.

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Credits

Cast

rolename
Dr Charles "Jim" CarricoZac Efron
Forrest SorrelsBilly Bob Thornton
Abraham ZapruderPaul Giamatti
Nurse Doris NelsonMarcia Gay Harden
Father Oscar HuberJackie Earle Haley
Lee Harvey OswaldJeremy Strong
FBI Agent Gordon ShanklinDavid Harbour
Lillian ZapruderDana Wheeler-Nicholson
Kenneth O'DonnellMark Duplass
Roy KellermanTom Welling
Dr Malcolm PerryColin Hanks
Marguerite OswaldJacki Weaver
Robert OswaldJames Badge Dale
David PowersGil Bellows
Earl RoseRory Cochrane
James HostyRon Livingston

Crew

rolename
DirectorPeter Landesman

Details

Theatrical distributor
Koch Media Entertainment
Released on
2013-11-22
Languages
English
Guidance
Swearing.
Available on
DVD and Blu-ray
Formats
Colour
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