DVD of the Week: Bobby

My DVD pick for this week is Emilio Estevez's ensemble drama Bobby, a moving unabashedly emotional retelling of the events surrounding the assassination of Robert Kennedy as seen through the eyes of fictionalized characters mulling about the hotel that would unexpectedly serve as the place of his death. The issues of these character are both timely (Lindsay Lohan as a young girl marrying herself off to a classmate in protest of his being drafted) and just plain timeless (Demi Moore as the seen it all lounge singer binging on booze, William H. Macy and Sharon Stone as disconnected spouses, etc.). What the film might lack in pure skill and frankly, subtlety, it more than makes up for with a spirit as bold and bright as the most moving of American films. Holes can be poked and critiques can be made, but why burst the bubble of something so beautiful, and so refreshingly optimistic? Why not let it be naive and hopeful just enough to maybe deceive us for a minute about the truth of the world, an ugliness that invades in the film's final moments as we see the death of a man 2 hours worth of candid storytelling has paralleled with joy and a glorious future. Kennedy's death here is not just a tragedy, it's an emblem of the way the world has turned for the worse.