Nixon (1995) HQ “Do you ever think of death, Dick?“

Oliver Stone’s talents as a director may be erratic but they shine at full strength in the richness of this scene depicting an uneasy agreement between President Richard Nixon and CIA director Richard Helms. Stone’s trademark of combining aesthetic precision with playful creativity gives this scene a spinning prism-like effect, flashing light into a myriad of shadowy and suggestive areas. However the historical inaccuracy of Oliver Stone’s works is often held up. My view is that watching a film is like experiencing another person’s dream. A film cannot really re-create people or events. It is inherently too subjective. Stone’s “dreams“ make me especially curious to know more about historical figures and events and in that sense I appreciate them. I do not watch them expecting to see “what really happened“. Hopkins is a puppet, Stone a puppeteer creating questions and intrigue. Like them we have to find our own truth about Nixon and Helms...