F. on W. | ★★★★★★★

Yeah.. my middle name begins with "F".. don't call me KF :)

Last night Ann and I watched this video with our son.. he loves this kind of political stuff - wonder where he got that from. I thought that it was a very interesting look at the life and presidency of George W. Bush. Going in I understood that it would be a biased Oliver Stone view of his life.. but I sort-of liked it anyway.. felt like I could weed out most of the junk.. mainly the scenes of the presidential years. What I saw most through the movie's eyes was the influence that others had on W.. and he on them.

• His father, affectionately called "Poppy", was a huge influence on W. Initially he was the one who seemed to always be bailing W out and trying to create employment opportunities for the young Bush. You see a lot of contention in this relationship.. it eventually manifests in their conflicting views on foreign policy. You also get the impression that Poppy was not supportive of W and tended to favor his son Jeb as both sons were running for governor of Texas and Florida.
  
  
• Dick Cheney was mostly demoted in this flick. In just about every scene that they share W comes across as the one who is in charge. W puts Cheney in his place on several occasions. Not the image you got over the years from various media sources as well as spoofs on Saturday Night Live.
  
  
• Karl Rove is depicted as a person who scripts most of what the political W says and the guy who masterminds the image people saw in Texas and in America. At one point we see Rove telling W to pretty much stick to the script.
  
  
• Colin Powell is shown as someone who was used by Bush to grab power but was minimalized in W's cabinet. I thought that this was one of the most biased depictions in the movie. Powell was certainly not the weakling he was depicted as being.
  
  
• Condoleezza Rice comes across as a pitiful excuse for a National Security Adviser who is transfixed by W's charm and power. I seriously doubt all of that.. another example of Stone's bias.
  
  
• Laura Bush is portrayed mostly in a positive light.. comes across as a pretty strong individual.. maybe not as demur as we think she is. Guess I didn't know she used to smoke.
  

Overall I thought that the movie was entertaining. I enjoyed seeing the early life aspects of President George W Bush portrayed.. helped me get a better picture of the man. In general I was irked by the way that Stone portrayed W as a power hungry manipulating hypocrite that forced people to pray at the conclusion of staff meetings. Anyone who bought that stuff probably already had an anti-W predisposition. On a scale of 10 I give this movie ★★★★★★★