Coverage:
by
Laurence Washington

In the tradition of a Robert Altman film where the story navigates through the lives of multiple characters until they all converge at the end, "Bobby" unfolds on the night of June 4, 1968 when Presidential hopeful Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was shot in the Ambassador Hotel. Skillfully directed by Emilio Estevez, "Bobby" is a re-imagining one of the most tragic nights in American history when black Americans were politically orphaned. The film opens with the death of Martin Luther King and the announcement by embattled President Lyndon B. Johnson that he won’t run for a second term. Five years later, after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, his younger brother Robert F. Kennedy, 42, emerges as his own man. Kennedy, who had announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States, is seen as the man of the people. Kennedy’s idealism is contagious as he pledges to end the Vietnam War and help those American’s who don’t have a voice in this country. Estevez artfully tells the story of 22 fictional characters in the Ambassador Hotel on the fateful eve of Kennedy’s assassination. Kennedy is seen only in newsreels and voiceovers, but his presence is stirring enough for today’s generation to experience what baby boomers felt in 1968 -- that one man could change the course of the world. The ensemble includes a retired doorman (Anthony Hopkins), a fellow retiree (Harry Belafonte), the hotel’s hairdresser; a sous chef (Laurence Fishburne) the coffee shop waitress and the hotel’s manager (William H. Macy) and others. Even though the audience knows the outcome, "Bobby" is engrossing as the 22 lives converge to a palpable climax in the Ambassador Hotel’s kitchen where Kennedy meets Sirhan Sirhan. The film ends with one of RFK's most stirring speeches punctuating what might have been had Kennedy lived.