The last 15 minutes had me in tears

When I was 15 a Senator from New York was running for President. The race for the Democratic nomination was tight with primaries splitting between two candidates. If he was to win the nomination the Senator had to carry California. If he lost, his plans were to withdraw from the race. The primary was all or nothing.

Because of time differences, and because the results were slow in coming in, I stayed up late to watch the results. My interest in politics was very much alive, and I had tracked the primary season carefully. I had the opportunity to see the other candidate when he came to Colorado State University. While I was impressed with the security required, and the crowd that turned out, the candidate talked like a professor....I was not impressed.

Instead I had gravitated towards the Senator from New York...and soon became something of a student listening and reading his speeches. This man was different, and I liked the difference.

So the primary in California was important. I stayed up to watch the results. Amazingly enough he carried the state! Whoohoo! I was elated. He made the usual speech recognizing his victory. I was happy. And then it happened, live and unedited: he was assasinated. His name: Robert Francis Kennedy. The elation was replaced with shock and a great sense of loss.

Last night I watched the movie, Bobby, which recreates the night of his assasination. The first ten minutes made me uncomfortable as it brought back the memories of Kennedy's candidacy. I actually paused the movie and walked away from it for a couple of hours. Later I returned to watch the rest of the movie.

The bulk of the movie deals with people that ended up at the hotel that night. It was an ok story that ultimately brought everyone to the scene the movie had to end with: the assasination.

The movie spliced in real scenes from the campaign and the night of the California victory / assasination. So when the movie got to the ballroom at the Ambassador hotel where the murder took place, the movie was almost exactly the same as the night I first saw them happen. The result: the last 15 minutes of the movie had me in tears.

The music in the movie was carefully selected and contributed to taking the viewer back to the time period. It also spoke volumes when it was only images flashing on the screen. It was a good soundtrack.

Overall, I rate this movie 4 out of 5 stars.

A final thought:

"Our lives on this planet are too short.
The work to be done is too great.
But we can perhaps remember
That those who live with us are our brothers.
That they share with us the same short moment of life."
- Robert F. Kennedy