Set against the backdrop of the picturesque Spanish city of Salamanca, Vantage Point tells the story of a presidential assassin plot by showing the various perspectives of eight different characters. The film stars William Hurt as the president, Dennis Quaid as a traumatized secret service agent, Forest Whitaker as a friendly tourists, and Sigourney Weaver as an aggressive television producer.
Vantage Point uses the storytelling technique of showing events in a very precise time frame (23 minutes) to replay the events of a presidential shooting and bombing. With each character’s version of the event being shown, the film continues to build tension and reveal clues to the mystery at hand.
The movie is fast-paced and entertaining, but the rewinding at the end of each segment was unnecessary and instead the director could have used the extra screen time to explain the motivation behind the assassin and bombing.
Recommendation: Recommended
Warning: none
Film URL: http://www.vantagepoint-movie.com/index.php
Author’s Note:
This film inserts two small but signifcant political statements. The first statement involves how the news media dumbs down its coverage of certain events. The second statement is when the President of United States resists the urging of his advisors to strike back immediately and bomb the people responsible for the incident. This is in direct opposition to the notion of fighting violence with violence. I wonder if the people who actually make these political decisions ever pick up on these little messages.
- By Bernadette Steele
