History’s harsh.
If there is one thing we have learned over time, it’s that. There is no way of controlling peoples thoughts, perceptions, and interpretations of history. That’s the beauty and the pain of it. For me, I love to ingest all interpretations of history. I love to embrace it. I love to learn something every time I can.
I’ve alway been obsessed with the idea of Camelot. Not the one with King Arthur and his Knights of the roundtable. More the one that America experienced – JFK and Jackie. Ever since I learned who Jackie was, I was enamored with her grace, beauty, and poise. I wanted to learn from her, to be as strong as she was. She just seemed like the royalty that America never had.
So sitting down to watch Jackie was a no brainer for me.
We all can conjure the same picture of Jackie – the pink suit, walking down the stairs of the White House with John and Caroline. I wasn’t even alive, but I remember looking at pictures of her in school and thinking, “What that woman must have had to go through.”
But I never thought that I could peak into her life. Until now.
Because Natalie Portman wasn’t Natalie Portman in this movie. You know how you watch some movies and you know that it’s the actor playing a character. But, from the moment that she appears on the screen, you feel like you are getting a peak into Jackie’s home videos. It doesn’t feel like a movie. It feels like life – that you are sitting there and watching it all unfold.
And it hurts.
We get to see several parts of Jackies life in the week after JFK was assasionated. Her struggle to make plans while holding her emotions in. Her need for her husband to be remembered and the way people would remember him.
“Let them see what they’ve done.”
We see Jackie struggling to keep her husbands together after he was shot. We see her tears, the way that she felt the need to be poised – when everyone was expecting her to fall apart. And guys – who amongst us wouldn’t? I would be a mess. A really big mess. Seeing her on the airplane on the way back from Dallas to D.C. – my heart broke for her.
Having to stand there while Johnson was sworn in.
Having to listen to people call Johnson, “Mr. President,” while her husband lays in a coffin a few feet away.
Struggling to listen to everyone talk about her husbands assassination.
Immediately having to think about a funeral.
Hearing that he had to have an autopsy.
And it was painful to see her fall apart. It was hard to see the world standing around her like they
“Take the children and disappear.”
The world expected her to hide, but Jackie didn’t want to hide. She wanted the world to see the truth. Two heart broken children. A life that was destroyed. Her image was carefully crafted. She knew what she wanted the world to know and what she wanted to keep private. Her privacy was something she cherished. It was important to her.
It was important to her to keep her children away from the press.
It was important to her that she had something that was her own.
My heart broke as she told John and Caroline that their father was gone. Explaining to them at first that he went to go be with Patrick. When they asked, “what about us,” I died a little inside.
“I never wanted fame, I just became a Kennedy.”
Jackie wasn’t naive. She knew that the world was always looking for something to talk about and she knew that she could give what she wanted. What she wanted was going to be what they got.
The movie Jackie, is so complex, so beautiful, and though I could sit here and tell you the entire story – I wouldn’t take that away from you. It’s a movie that you can’t miss. It’s a glimpse into one of the most respected women of our time.
Natalie Portman is flawless.
The cinematography is beautiful.
It’s a movie that you can’t miss.
Jackie is available now on digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD.