The Assassination Of Richard Nixon

Synopsis: It's 1974 and Sam Bicke (Sean Penn) is a disillusioned man. Estranged from his wife, Marie, (Naomi Watts) and his brother, he is also alienated from his job as a salesman, which he sees as based upon lies and deception, actively encouraged by his boss, Jack Jones (Jack Thomson). He desperately wants to start up a business with his mate Bonny (Don Cheadle) and hopes to snare the piece of the American dream that always seems to elude him. But as everything goes awry and his already shaky self-esteem plummets he becomes progressively more unhinged.

This excellent film from first-time feature director Mueller is based upon a true story, which received little recognition at the time due to Nixon’s subsequent involvement in Watergate. Its theme is especially chilling in our post 9/11 days in that Bicke’s plan involved hijacking a plane and crashing it into the White House. But this is no terrorist plot, rather an account of an ordinary man's desperation.

Sean Penn’s depiction of this “average guy” is testament to just what a superb actor he is. He masterfully captures the frustration, sadness and, ultimately, madness of Bicke, compellingly portraying a self-effacing diffidence combined with an all-pervading sorrow for his lost family, gradually shrinking into insignificance as the film progresses before his final pathetic attempt to validate himself.

An equally fine performance is delivered by Jack Thomson, whose considerable girth gives him a sense of gross presence and whose bombastic style leads Bicke to claim “The earth belongs to bullies”. Naomi Watts is initially almost unrecognisable as a brunette and here she amply shows us why she is getting so much screentime these days. And even in his small role as a car mechanic, Don Cheadle once again shows himself to be an acting force to be reckoned with.

The real Bicke sent tapes to composer Leonard Bernstein, believing that the great man would understand him as a fellow worker for purity and truth. Extracts from these, read as a voice-over by Bicke are neatly used as a way of giving us insight into the tortured mind of Bicke, whose growing frustration drives him deeper and deeper into self-delusion. Whilst similar in some respects with Scorsese's masterly Taxi Driver (1976) Mueller's film is more concerned with the personal than the social. It is as such less evocative of a time and place but as a story of individual disintegration it holds its own.

FYI: The production began life as a work of fiction but co-writers Mueller and Kevin Kennedy incorporated elements from the real life attempt into their story.

 

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