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| Parkland: a historical cure for all the other JFK conspiracy movies | Parkland: a historical cure for all the other JFK conspiracy movies |
| (21 days later) | |
| Parkland (2013) Director: Peter Landesman Entertainment grade: B+ History grade: A | Parkland (2013) Director: Peter Landesman Entertainment grade: B+ History grade: A |
| See if this film is playing near you | |
| On 22 November 1963, John F Kennedy was shot as he was driven through Dallas, Texas, and died shortly afterwards. He was the fourth president of the United States to be assassinated. | On 22 November 1963, John F Kennedy was shot as he was driven through Dallas, Texas, and died shortly afterwards. He was the fourth president of the United States to be assassinated. |
| People | People |
| On the fateful morning, FBI and Secret Service men prepare for Kennedy's visit. Members of the public, including home-movie camera enthusiast Abraham Zapruder (Paul Giamatti), look forward to catching a glimpse of their president. At Parkland Hospital, 28-year-old Dr Jim Carrico (Zac Efron) wakes up for his shift and gets on with the important business of flirting with red-headed nurses. The film uses documentary footage and re-enactments to assemble the familiar events of that day: John and Jackie Kennedy arriving at Dallas Love Field airport, the motorcade, the sedate drive into Dallas's Dealey Plaza – and then three shots. | On the fateful morning, FBI and Secret Service men prepare for Kennedy's visit. Members of the public, including home-movie camera enthusiast Abraham Zapruder (Paul Giamatti), look forward to catching a glimpse of their president. At Parkland Hospital, 28-year-old Dr Jim Carrico (Zac Efron) wakes up for his shift and gets on with the important business of flirting with red-headed nurses. The film uses documentary footage and re-enactments to assemble the familiar events of that day: John and Jackie Kennedy arriving at Dallas Love Field airport, the motorcade, the sedate drive into Dallas's Dealey Plaza – and then three shots. |
| Death | Death |
| The dying Kennedy is rushed to Parkland hospital. The film includes all sorts of immaculately correct historical details, such as Jackie Kennedy refusing to be dragged away from her husband in the limousine (the reason, according to a witness, was that she did not want anyone to see his condition). Though Carrico finds a heartbeat and the president is still just about breathing through his tracheal wound, it is clear he will not live – not least when the traumatised Jackie Kennedy stumbles over to the medical staff with part of her husband's brain and skull in her hands. The film is right that there was a dispute between the Secret Service and local Texas law enforcement about whether Kennedy's body could be taken back to Washington immediately or would have to remain in Texas for an autopsy. It is also right that Mrs Kennedy put a ring on her husband's finger after he was pronounced dead in the trauma room. Top marks. | The dying Kennedy is rushed to Parkland hospital. The film includes all sorts of immaculately correct historical details, such as Jackie Kennedy refusing to be dragged away from her husband in the limousine (the reason, according to a witness, was that she did not want anyone to see his condition). Though Carrico finds a heartbeat and the president is still just about breathing through his tracheal wound, it is clear he will not live – not least when the traumatised Jackie Kennedy stumbles over to the medical staff with part of her husband's brain and skull in her hands. The film is right that there was a dispute between the Secret Service and local Texas law enforcement about whether Kennedy's body could be taken back to Washington immediately or would have to remain in Texas for an autopsy. It is also right that Mrs Kennedy put a ring on her husband's finger after he was pronounced dead in the trauma room. Top marks. |
| Narrative | Narrative |
| Parkland weaves together several stories, a structure that some viewers may find frustrating. There isn't much of a central narrative here, and several of the subplots would make compelling movies in their own right. Particularly, the experience of Lee Harvey Oswald's brother Robert and their possibly unhinged mother Marguerite is gripping, not least thanks to remarkable performances by James Badge Dale, as Robert, and Jacki Weaver as Margeurite. Historically, though, the disconnected and tantalising nature of Parkland's episodes is appropriate for two reasons. First, because skipping from part-story to part-story accurately conjures the feeling of confusion and chaos of that day in history. Second, because what historians have been left with is indeed a huge and complicated collage of fragments that don't always fit together. | Parkland weaves together several stories, a structure that some viewers may find frustrating. There isn't much of a central narrative here, and several of the subplots would make compelling movies in their own right. Particularly, the experience of Lee Harvey Oswald's brother Robert and their possibly unhinged mother Marguerite is gripping, not least thanks to remarkable performances by James Badge Dale, as Robert, and Jacki Weaver as Margeurite. Historically, though, the disconnected and tantalising nature of Parkland's episodes is appropriate for two reasons. First, because skipping from part-story to part-story accurately conjures the feeling of confusion and chaos of that day in history. Second, because what historians have been left with is indeed a huge and complicated collage of fragments that don't always fit together. |
| Sources | Sources |
| Parkland is based on Vincent Bugliosi's 1,600 page tome Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F Kennedy, also released in a more manageable 700-page version called Parkland: Four Days in November. Bugliosi agrees with the verdict of the Warren commission: that Lee Harvey Oswald was a lone gunman, acting alone. Much of his longer volume is devoted to demolishing the conspiracy theories that have sprouted up. For many historians, Parkland's consistent focus on the known, supportable facts will be a huge relief. Viewers who aren't familiar with the case may find Oliver Stone's JFK a more compelling film, but historically speaking it is the most appalling load of old hogwash. Parkland, meanwhile, gets pretty much everything as close to right as we can currently know. | Parkland is based on Vincent Bugliosi's 1,600 page tome Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F Kennedy, also released in a more manageable 700-page version called Parkland: Four Days in November. Bugliosi agrees with the verdict of the Warren commission: that Lee Harvey Oswald was a lone gunman, acting alone. Much of his longer volume is devoted to demolishing the conspiracy theories that have sprouted up. For many historians, Parkland's consistent focus on the known, supportable facts will be a huge relief. Viewers who aren't familiar with the case may find Oliver Stone's JFK a more compelling film, but historically speaking it is the most appalling load of old hogwash. Parkland, meanwhile, gets pretty much everything as close to right as we can currently know. |
| Conspiracies | Conspiracies |
| There are thousands of documents on the Kennedy assassination yet to be declassified, and the most sober of historians would probably prefer to reserve final judgment until they can read them. So far, though, despite half a century of concerted effort by a legion of conspiracy theorists, no smoking gun has been found to prove any of the many and contradictory theories that Oswald did not fire the killing shot, or that he was part of a conspiracy. Admirably, Parkland restrains itself to telling you what it knows, not what you should or shouldn't think. Subtly, it does a great job of showing how cock-ups create the gaps in history that allow conspiracy theories to flourish. Investigators make mistakes, evidence changes hands too many times, files get destroyed, and people close to a traumatic event say and do some very odd things. History isn't neat, nor is this movie. That, of course, is exactly how historians like it. | There are thousands of documents on the Kennedy assassination yet to be declassified, and the most sober of historians would probably prefer to reserve final judgment until they can read them. So far, though, despite half a century of concerted effort by a legion of conspiracy theorists, no smoking gun has been found to prove any of the many and contradictory theories that Oswald did not fire the killing shot, or that he was part of a conspiracy. Admirably, Parkland restrains itself to telling you what it knows, not what you should or shouldn't think. Subtly, it does a great job of showing how cock-ups create the gaps in history that allow conspiracy theories to flourish. Investigators make mistakes, evidence changes hands too many times, files get destroyed, and people close to a traumatic event say and do some very odd things. History isn't neat, nor is this movie. That, of course, is exactly how historians like it. |
| Verdict | Verdict |
| Film critics have delivered mixed reviews, and Parkland may well bore the pants off general audiences, but it is utterly enthralling for anyone interested in JFK. | Film critics have delivered mixed reviews, and Parkland may well bore the pants off general audiences, but it is utterly enthralling for anyone interested in JFK. |
| Alex von Tunzelmann's Red Heat: Conspiracy, Murder and the Cold War in the Caribbean is published by Simon &Schuster | Alex von Tunzelmann's Red Heat: Conspiracy, Murder and the Cold War in the Caribbean is published by Simon &Schuster |
| Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. | Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |