I don’t like W.

But I do like W.

President George W. Bush has been a disaster as a President.  Our economy is in the toilet.  The Constitution has been shredded.  The nation is in an illegal war.  And or country is divided.

But in a surprisingly nuanced and even-handed portrayal of our 43d President, director Oliver Stone has given us a personal story of triumph and, ultimately, tragedy. 

George W. Bush is our Charles Foster Kane of Citizen Kane fame.  Born with a silver spoon in his mouth but never truly able to lead a life outside of the shadow of his family name and his father’s shared name.

Kane longed for his missed childhood through the metaphor of his sled, Rosebud.  Bush longs for the adoration of not just a nation but more importantly, of his father, George H.W.

Stone does portray Bush as a buffoon at times.  But the bumbling Bush, expertly played by Josh Brolin, also understands he’s a screw up—and does something about it.  He truly does find God and religion.  He is sincere in his beliefs.  He gives up drinking and carousing.  Bush becomes a responsible adult after a profligate youth.

Stone could have made fun of all this.  He doesn’t.  He plays it straight. 

Laura Bush, portrayed by Elizabeth Banks, is a smokin’ hot—but smart—smoking librarian.  She probably is the best thing that ever happened to Bush—a no-nonsense Texas woman who may stand by her man but isn’t afraid to tell him when he’s wrong—and when he’s right.  Theirs is a touching love story.

James Cromwell’s “Poppy” Bush is perhaps the character who comes in for the most negative scrutiny.  He obviously thinks his son is a loser.  Jeb Bush is the fair-haired son.  Poppy is distant and dismissive.  W wants nothing more than to gain his father’s approval.

As W gains his confidence as a businessman and as governor of Texas, it becomes clear that his political instincts are better than his fathers.  In a meeting with evangelicals during the 1992 election, George H.W. doesn’t understand the nature of the evangelical’s faith.  W does.

Vice President Dick Cheney, wonderfully portrayed by Richard Dreyfuss, is even more calculating and chilling as you might think.  W truly does believe what he believes about terrorism, democracy, and making the world better (flawed as his ideas and execution was). 

Cheney, on the other hand, uses W’s idealism and ability to connect with people for his own nefarious purposes in a Dr. Strangelove sort of way.

Perhaps the most tragic figure in the movie is Secretary of State Colin Powell, who kind of has the same role as Bernstein—he was there before the beginning and there after the end.

A voice of reason and integrity about the lead-up to the second Gulf War, he ultimately capitulates to Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and the nearly literal lap dog, Condoleeza Rice.  His failure to act to stop the war despite the lies is an allegory for America buying the lies that have lead to the tragedy of the Iraq War.

Some critics have criticized the movie for being too straight forward.  I disagree.  It is full of metaphor, not something you see in modern American movies.

I don’t know for sure if in 50 years people will claim W to be the classic American tale that explains our times and our public figues as did Citizen Kane.  But I’m sure up there in cinematic heaven, Orson Welles has a big glass of wine, a fine Cuban cigar—and a big smile on his face—over Stone’s effort.