Parkland (opens in Cleveland October 4th exclusively at the Cedar Lee Theatre)

[PARKLAND opens in Cleveland on Friday October 4th exclusively at the Cedar Lee Theatre.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

Countless books have been written and TV programs and movies made that delve into the many possible conspiracy theories about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22 nd, 1963. What tends to get lost amidst all the speculation, dubious and otherwise, is the real human impact of this tragic killing on those who were closest to it. It is this aspect of the assassination that Peter Landesman explores in his film PARKLAND.


Landesman starts with a montage of archival footage showing events leading up to the assassination, then begins his movie proper as several storylines interweave. Shot with a handheld camera to continue the documentary feel, we see Abraham Zapruder (Paul Giamatti) as he gives his staff the day off to see the President, heading out himself with his 8mm movie camera. We see the doctors and nurses at Parkland Hospital in Dallas going through an ordinary work day. We see Dallas FBI agents talking politics, and it's clear not all the G-Men like the president. And then it happens, and we rush to the hospital operating room where chief surgeon Jim Carrico (Zac Effron) and his team struggle in vain to save the President's life as Jackie Kennedy (Kat Steffens) looks on, and at one point hands the surgeons a piece of her husband she has been holding since the shooting. The scene is intense, bloody, and emotional, and even though we all know how it's going to end, the movie keeps us on the edge of our seat anyway.