This 13 minutes short
film using footage of the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy
and other key moments of his life is a hard to find piece of great cinematic
art.
Narrated by the radio broadcasts that were live during the
event, director Bruce Conner’s
superposition of images and audio demonstrates more than the most important
event of television and mass media of its time. It is a post mortem of how
television, news, continuous and repetitive passage of the same images has
become like a hammer to the head of the viewers. With his mastery of montage of
footage of the lasts moments of JFK, commercials, and other images Conner
announces how mass media has become a terrible force feeding tendency that news
reporters have created with constant retelling of the same news over and over
again.
It also shows how television is a window on the world and
how it places humans in the center of every event with repeats of images. For
those who were old enough to remember November 22nd of 1963, the famous car
with JFK and Jackie is clear as if it was just yesterday. One of the reasons is
the fact that it was the most famous image of the early television broadcasts.
Being honest, I was not aware of artist Bruce Conner before
being assigned to watch this movie for the 1001 Movie Club retracing every title
listed in the 1001 Movies You Must See
Before You Die book. Even if Stan Brakhage and avant-garde films are far
from being my cup of tea, I must admit having enjoyed Conner’s short film. Its
message and its importance in contemporary Art is without a doubt linked
directly with our reality. Hard to find but worth the look.
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