United Liberty
Oliver Stone
W. - A Tangle of Truth and Tragedy
Sat, 10/18/2008 - 1:56pm | posted by C Scott Morris
Oliver Stone’s new release “W.” is certainly a unique film, and like other films of his, will likely become a reference point for our time. It is an intertwining of bits and pieces of our current President’s past, from his Yale days to his “fiasco” in Iraq.
What’s particularly notable is how well executed the film is from a Realist perspective, as many of the lines W. delivers in the movie were taken straight from real incidents. More often than not these statements are to his disgrace and/or embarrassment, provided he has the cognitive capacity to comprehend that he said something imbecilic - again - in the first place. Stone simultaneously delivers the image of Bush I believe he intended, and yet absolves himself from political pressure or retaliation by sticking to what he was provided.
Oliver Stone says Americans are living in an “Orwellian state”
Wed, 02/20/2013 - 10:00am | posted by Jason Pye
While he isn’t exactly friendly to the free market point of view, you have to hand it to Oliver Stone, at least he’s consistent in his criticism of presidents who overstep their constitutional boundaries.
During a recent interview, Stone, who directed JFK and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, told the Russia Today that the United States “has become an Orwellian state” and called President Barack Obama a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
While many on the Left have given silent consent to the policies of the current administration, including reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act and robbing Americans of due process through indefinite detention and drone strikes, Stone expressed shock and outrage at Obama, who was supposed to be “a great hope for change.”
“I think under the disguise of sheep’s clothing [Obama] has been a wolf,” Stone told the Russia Today. “That because of the nightmare of the Bush presidency that preceded him, people forgave him a lot.”
He added, “He has taken all the Bush changes he basically put them into the establishment, he has codified them.”
Stone, who has recently co-authored a new book with Peter Kuznick, The Untold History of the United States, showed concern for what contempt President Obama has shown during his first term and what his second term may have in store. He explained, “[W]e are going into the second administration that is living outside the law and does not respect the law and foundations of our system and he is a constitutional lawyer.”
“Without the law, it is the law of the jungle,” Stone noted. “Nuremburg existed for a reason and there was a reason to have trials, there is a reason for due process – ‘habeas corpus’ as they call it in the United States.”
