“To tell the truth, even if it’s my version” (Senator Ted Kennedy (1969)
This line haunts Senator Ted Kennedy in the days following the tragic car accident in which his car went over the infamous bridge off the Island of Chappaquiddick. In the car, he had one passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne a former campaign secretary of his late brother, President Robert Kennedy, who he was convincing to rejoin the Kennedy family as his campaign secretary for the upcoming presidential campaign. But that is all cut short when she drowns in the car, causing a series of complications involving the Kennedy family scandal.
The film, directed by John Curran, paints a picture of the grief and conflict that young Senator Ted Kennedy, must have gone through as he must both analyze and cope with the tragedy that almost destroyed his political campaign and Curran for sure, did his homework, with the research and details that went into the film. He captured the information that the public didn’t necessarily know about the incident as well as what was in the mainstream media as the actors portrayed how the Kennedy family might have reacted to the trouble that the youngest Kennedy son found himself in that one day in 1969.
Ultimately, all the actors that were cast as well did an exceptional job, especiallyBruce Dern (from various westerns including The Hateful Eight and Django Unchained). Though Dern doesn’t have many speaking lines, it is the way he portrayed the late Joe Kennedy, Ted’s father that is exceptional. The fact that he was playing someone who had suffered from a stroke and thus couldn’t speak, it is so realistic with the emphasis of how to communicate nonverbally. One could see his expression that is conveyed both when he finds out about the scandal from his son that progresses to the end with his final line , “Be Great” as Ted Kennedy is about to make his final speech.
The other actor that did a great job is the one who played the role of Ted Kennedy, Jason Clarke (Everest, Zero Dark Thirty). Clark had so much emotion both during the moments leading up to the tragic accident as well as following, especially as we see how it affected him. His line after, “I’m not going to be president” set up the conflict which was building up to the famous speech at the end in which he ultimately considers resigning as senator.
His performance also had a humanistic touch where, the same as he was trying to touch the voters, the audience watching could sympathize with him as though it was really just a misfortunate accident. The interviews afterward with the voters, which looked as though were real footage from the actual speech, were a nice touch because it also showed that, despite the tragedy, people still loved him and wanted him to stay as senator.
One thing that might have made it a little stronger and I was disappointed, there was no flashbacks of the actual events. Building up to the speech, I kept expecting the director to show the actual speech from Ted Kennedy, either as a split screen, or photos at the end with the text explaining the outcome of the real Ted Kennedy, but there was nothing. Because of that, it made me wonder just how accurate the validity of the story was. It also left me with a question: was there items that were left out strategically to make Ted Kennedy look like the victim?
Ultimately Chappaquiddick is an hour and forty five minutes based on the “True” story of Ted Kennedy and what happened on July 18, 1969 with campaign strategist Mary Jo Kopechne. It came out in theaters April 8, 2018 and is currently playing in a theater near you. See it and make your decision as to whether it is true or not.