The Assassination of Richard Nixon
In 1974, a loner called Sam Bicke decided to hijack an airplane and crash it into the White House in an attempt to kill the president. He failed, and for a long time, history appears to have overlooked him. Until now, that is.
There really can be no spoilers for this film. From the outset, when you see Bicke (played by Sean Penn) get out of his car with a gun and walk towards the airport, you know something is up. Then you hear the voice-over as he relates his story in a series of tapes that he sends to the composer Leonard Bernstein. That the film will end in an assassination attempt is beyond doubt. The intrigue is in how will Bicke get there.
Bicke’s reverence for Leonard Bernstein is fascinating. Bicke believes that only Bernstein possesses the integrity and purity of spirit that practically all other Americans lack. That said, Bicke never expects Bernstein to fully understand him because the composer has never had to work for anyone else. For Bicke, employment is slavery, and forever marks out the elite from the masses to which he belongs.
Not only does The Assassination of Richard Nixon do an admirable job of recreating a time of crisis in American history and in the life of a loner, it also reflects on many issues that are prevalent today. The sacrifice of dignity and integrity required by a job like Bicke’s (he is a furniture salesman) is ever-present. There are numerous political similarities too. Bicke describes the moral certainty of the American elite as a “disease of kings.” He contrasts that certainty with the doubts he feels about his apparent mission. “Whatever else I was, I was never a king,” he says.
You see him screaming at Richard Nixon on television: “It’s all about money, Dick! It’s all about money, Dick!” You could just as well see him screaming at George W. Bicke is obsessed with lies and the naked greed that inspires them. It is a gut-wrenching moment when Bicke is forced to confront his estranged brother and realizes that he has himself become a liar. (After a rejection for a small business loan, Bicke fraudulently takes possession of hundreds of car tires from his brother’s business.)
After this moment, there can be no redemption for Bicke. His wife (played by Naomi Watts) has filed for divorce after being hounded to the limits of her patience. Even Bicke’s loyal friend (Don Cheadle) appears to be giving Bicke only grudging support. Bicke’s obsession with race appears to simply exhaust him.
And this is where the film truly twists the knife in. No one around Bicke can deny the veracity of his ravings about race, greed, deceit and the loss of dignity in working life. (At one point he even throws a glass of water on the face of a customer who is harassing his waitress wife.) But the necessity of surviving in the contemporary world means that they cannot join Bicke’s fight.
In the end, Bicke’s assassination attempt is fuelled by two desires. Firstly, to earn a place in the history books. Secondly, to prove that one man can shake the elite. He seems to want to inspire others.
Penn does such a fantastic job that even though one can hardly be inspired by Bicke’s “mission,” it is impossible not to empathize with the rage and frustration that provoked it. Even when you are laughing at Bicke (such as when he suggests to a member of the Black Panthers that the radical movement’s name be changed to the Zebras so as to be inclusive of whites) you can never deny that this man is in a terrible human predicament that confronts us all: just how many lies and how much bullshit are we willing to accept? Are we prepared to fight back, even at the risk to our own well-being?
There really can be no spoilers for this film. From the outset, when you see Bicke (played by Sean Penn) get out of his car with a gun and walk towards the airport, you know something is up. Then you hear the voice-over as he relates his story in a series of tapes that he sends to the composer Leonard Bernstein. That the film will end in an assassination attempt is beyond doubt. The intrigue is in how will Bicke get there.
Bicke’s reverence for Leonard Bernstein is fascinating. Bicke believes that only Bernstein possesses the integrity and purity of spirit that practically all other Americans lack. That said, Bicke never expects Bernstein to fully understand him because the composer has never had to work for anyone else. For Bicke, employment is slavery, and forever marks out the elite from the masses to which he belongs.
Not only does The Assassination of Richard Nixon do an admirable job of recreating a time of crisis in American history and in the life of a loner, it also reflects on many issues that are prevalent today. The sacrifice of dignity and integrity required by a job like Bicke’s (he is a furniture salesman) is ever-present. There are numerous political similarities too. Bicke describes the moral certainty of the American elite as a “disease of kings.” He contrasts that certainty with the doubts he feels about his apparent mission. “Whatever else I was, I was never a king,” he says.
You see him screaming at Richard Nixon on television: “It’s all about money, Dick! It’s all about money, Dick!” You could just as well see him screaming at George W. Bicke is obsessed with lies and the naked greed that inspires them. It is a gut-wrenching moment when Bicke is forced to confront his estranged brother and realizes that he has himself become a liar. (After a rejection for a small business loan, Bicke fraudulently takes possession of hundreds of car tires from his brother’s business.)
After this moment, there can be no redemption for Bicke. His wife (played by Naomi Watts) has filed for divorce after being hounded to the limits of her patience. Even Bicke’s loyal friend (Don Cheadle) appears to be giving Bicke only grudging support. Bicke’s obsession with race appears to simply exhaust him.
And this is where the film truly twists the knife in. No one around Bicke can deny the veracity of his ravings about race, greed, deceit and the loss of dignity in working life. (At one point he even throws a glass of water on the face of a customer who is harassing his waitress wife.) But the necessity of surviving in the contemporary world means that they cannot join Bicke’s fight.
In the end, Bicke’s assassination attempt is fuelled by two desires. Firstly, to earn a place in the history books. Secondly, to prove that one man can shake the elite. He seems to want to inspire others.
Penn does such a fantastic job that even though one can hardly be inspired by Bicke’s “mission,” it is impossible not to empathize with the rage and frustration that provoked it. Even when you are laughing at Bicke (such as when he suggests to a member of the Black Panthers that the radical movement’s name be changed to the Zebras so as to be inclusive of whites) you can never deny that this man is in a terrible human predicament that confronts us all: just how many lies and how much bullshit are we willing to accept? Are we prepared to fight back, even at the risk to our own well-being?
posted by Laurence Miall @ 2:35 PM
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