Jackie (2016)

November 22nd, 1963 – Dallas, TX: It had rained that morning, and by afternoon the sun had made its way out from behind the clouds. At approximately 12:29pm, President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade entered Dealey Square and rounded the corner onto Houston Street. Within the next 60 seconds, the following course of events would forever alter the history of the United States.

 

Pablo Larraín’s 2016 biographical drama, Jackie, highlights the events leading up to, surrounding, and proceeding that fateful day. Whereas most recounts focus on John F. Kennedy and his short term as president, this film chooses to focus on a figure whose presence has often been overshadowed and overlooked, Jackie Kennedy.

 

A claustrophobic and deeply intimate portrait on grief and trauma, Jackie serves to not only recount the tragedy that surrounded Jackie, the Kennedy family, and the nation at the time, but to reflect on legacy, the weaving of history, and the will to live. 

 

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2:16 The poignancy of the release of Pablo Larraín’s Jackie (2016) that is the amalgamation of the mental hurdles and trauma that still exist in present-day America 

5:00 An appreciation for Jackie on repeat viewing and the refusal to glorify Jackie Kennedy’s grief as opposed to the biographical glorification we’re used to seeing in Hollywood & the Academy Awards

10:20 The Salem Witch Hunt in Texas and the repercussions of the ban on abortion rights

15:00 Natalie Portman’s tour de force performance as Jackie potentially being her best yet

19:32 Viewing the truth from an alternate perspective and the recreation of the events through found footage

21:45 The significance in balancing truth and fantasy, and pathos and catharsis

26:15 The poignancy of depicting the Kennedy family and America’s ugly past

30:54 Mica Levi’s haunting score

32:00 Natalie Portman’s performance in a performance 

37:33 Jackie’s duty to display an unsightly truth

42:18 Was Jacqueline Kennedy right or wrong in the way she handled John F. Kennedy’s death in the eye of the public and the media?

48:22 America’s withdrawal in Afghanistan and the drone strikes in Kubal killing a family of 10

54:30 Jackie as a film about the death of the American Dream, living in a nihilistic world, and embracing life because death is certain

1:02:12 The drone strikes in Afghanistan and its similarities to the chemical bombings in the Vietnam War

1:04:01 Rating Jackie

1:14:57 Jackie Spoiler Discussion