Chappaquiddick * * * *
The "Chappaquiddick incident" featuring Senator Edward ("Ted") Kennedy has been shrouded in mystery ever since 1969. This film is an excellent dramatisation of the events but it doesn't entirely clear the mystery or reassure you that the truth has been spoken.
But what can you do? Anybody who knows what really happened is probably dead now.
As a young Senator Edward Kennedy was at a party on the island of Chappaquiddick. He and a staff member, Mary Jo Kopechne, went for a drive, the car ended up in a pond. As the car sank Edward Kennedy managed to get out, Mary Jo did not. We don't know how hard Edward tried to rescue her, but we do know that after he got out he walked back the house where the party was and told two of his closest confidantes, behaving like he'd made a bit of silly mistake and simply needed someone to help him cover it up.
His friends rushed back to the scene to see if they could save Mary Jo. Kennedy seemed to be acting irrationally either through shock or fear. It was like he just wanted the whole thing to go away and if he distanced himself from it, then it would. Later in the night, with the car still in the lake and Mary Jo's body still entombed in it, Edward Kennedy left his friends and went to nearby Edgartown and carried on like all was normal. Though he did call his father, who's stroke affected voice seemed to mumble the suggestion he find an "Alibi".
Over the next twenty four hours, as Kennedy suggested they peddle lies to the media ("I'll say she was driving"), his cousin Joe Gargan, who was also his lawyer and closest confidante, was trying to get Kennedy to come to his senses, reminding Kennedy the truth would eventually come out and it would only look worse.
It is a tragic and frustrating story that makes you angry that Kennedy could not (or did not) do more to rescue Mary Jo and seemed primarily concerned with what this incident was going to do to his career and reputation. We see him being evasive and acting without any dignity or nobility, even wearing an unnecessary neck brace to the funeral of Mary Jo, so that he might gain sympathy. He is so confused you don't know whether to feel for him or be furious with him. The film also gives us insight into Edward Kennedy in other ways. He had to live in the formidable shadow of his brothers - Joe, John and Bobby, and it was almost impossible for him to gain his father's approval.
Yet after the brief court case, and a judgement of extraordinary leniency, (he never went to jail), Edward Kennedy did seem to have an epiphany of what makes a decent man and committed himself to be just that.
Jason Clark is well cast as Edward Kennedy and plays him convincingly both in mannerisms and looks.
It is well directed by John Curran from an intelligent script with appropriate and symbolic referrals to the greater event that was capturing the nation at that time - man walking on the moon.
But what can you do? Anybody who knows what really happened is probably dead now.
As a young Senator Edward Kennedy was at a party on the island of Chappaquiddick. He and a staff member, Mary Jo Kopechne, went for a drive, the car ended up in a pond. As the car sank Edward Kennedy managed to get out, Mary Jo did not. We don't know how hard Edward tried to rescue her, but we do know that after he got out he walked back the house where the party was and told two of his closest confidantes, behaving like he'd made a bit of silly mistake and simply needed someone to help him cover it up.
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| "Let's go for a drive", said Ted |
Over the next twenty four hours, as Kennedy suggested they peddle lies to the media ("I'll say she was driving"), his cousin Joe Gargan, who was also his lawyer and closest confidante, was trying to get Kennedy to come to his senses, reminding Kennedy the truth would eventually come out and it would only look worse.
It is a tragic and frustrating story that makes you angry that Kennedy could not (or did not) do more to rescue Mary Jo and seemed primarily concerned with what this incident was going to do to his career and reputation. We see him being evasive and acting without any dignity or nobility, even wearing an unnecessary neck brace to the funeral of Mary Jo, so that he might gain sympathy. He is so confused you don't know whether to feel for him or be furious with him. The film also gives us insight into Edward Kennedy in other ways. He had to live in the formidable shadow of his brothers - Joe, John and Bobby, and it was almost impossible for him to gain his father's approval.
Yet after the brief court case, and a judgement of extraordinary leniency, (he never went to jail), Edward Kennedy did seem to have an epiphany of what makes a decent man and committed himself to be just that.
Jason Clark is well cast as Edward Kennedy and plays him convincingly both in mannerisms and looks.
It is well directed by John Curran from an intelligent script with appropriate and symbolic referrals to the greater event that was capturing the nation at that time - man walking on the moon.
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