when i was a kid, my folks used to repeatedly tell me the story of the day bobby kennedy was shot. my dad stayed up all night watching the news and they'd both taken the day off work the next day, sat in bed and cried. i grew up knowing what a great man bobby kennedy had been, greater so than his brother, a man who could have made our lives so incredibly different.



the ads for the flick bobby never showed an actor playing him and i'd had a couple conversations with my friends about whether or not he was even going to be portrayed by anyone or if they would just use old news footage. i'd commented that i hope it wasn't this way because i wanted to hear some of the things he'd had to say.



so i went to see the flick last night, and there was no bobby, just old news footage, but only a few minutes into the movie i understood why. i said this to my friends when i left, that if bobby kennedy had been asked when he was alive how he would have wanted a movie about him to be done, he would have answered that he wouldn't have wanted it to be about himself.



this movie is about the lives he would have affected. emilio estevez created a miniature version of america within the ambassador hotel, including representatives from all walks of life. people who were struggling because of their race, men who worried about going to vietnam, drug users, hopeful african american politicians, the rich, the poor, women and men, black and white. we followed these people's stories on that one day, and you slowly start to see how profound an affect bobby kennedy's potential presidency would have had on america.



i'm not sure a lot of people will understand why the makers of this movie decided to take this route with it, telling the stories of these people rather than bobby kennedy, but i think the point is that a story about bobby kennedy, is a story about the people of the united states of america. cause that's all he gave a shit about.



and of course, in the end he dies, history plays the spoiler in this movie, unfortunately. i don't think i've bawled so heavily at a movie in my entire life.



in spite of what the ignorant and heartless critics have to say, i fucking loved this movie.





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