W. by Oliver Stone

Hollywood's had it in for George W. Bush for a while now. Parodies of the former president abound; check out especially funny incarnations in Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay and Postal.

Given the movie industry's liberal proclivities, it seems inevitable that any movie biography of 'Dubya' would be sharply critical of pariah president - especially one directed by left-leaning writer and director Oliver Stone.

Yet W., the portrait of George W. Bush's path to the presidency, is an astonishingly sympathetic insight into the man who polarized American politics.

Josh Brolin stars as Bush, in a performance that is unnervingly accurate. He's pitch perfect: Every intonation, every expression is mimicked with unerring exactitude, even by the standards of a society that's been bombarded with Bush 'impressions' over the past eight years.

The rest of the cast is equally good, despite Bush's inner circle being recreated by seemingly fluffy Hollywood players. Suited, booted and made up, you wouldn't realize it.

Beautiful Thandie Newton seems like a ridiculous choice for secretary of state Condoleeza Rice, yet she becomes that role. Jeffrey Wright is equally convincing as Colin Powell, and Richard Dreyfuss and Elizabeth Banks serve admirably as Dick Cheney and Laura Bush. It's eerie to see familiar actors become perfect portraits of equally familiar politicians.

Less suitable are Scott Glenn and James Cromwell, both veteran actors who perform as 'themselves' rather than the politicians they're trying to mimic - Donald Rumsfeld and George Bush Snr, respectively. Given how distinctive those two personalities are (Rumsfeld's muttering and Bush's nasal whine have born rich fruit for comedians to mimic over the years) I'm surprised they didn't give it the old college try.

Nevertheless, Oliver Stone has created a totally immersive portrait of the Bush administration that sucks you in remorselessly. Having watched a plethora of presidential biographies (most of them staring Martin Sheen) I can say without ambiguity that this is the best one ever made.

W. takes us on a disjointed journey through Bush's life - unflinchingly portraying his early days as he struggled with alcohol abuse, insecurity and arrogance. Brolin initially portrays Bush as a lazy, arrogant, boozing hellraiser - but you can't help but like the guy. You realize that all the cowboy posturing and reckless drinking was just a crutch, helping him define himself when faced with living up to his father's impossible standards.

And his father did have impossible standards, according to Oliver Stone.

George not only had to live up to his father, a resident of the White House for nearly 16 years, but also to his dad's rosy opinion of Bush's brother, Jeb.

Jeb, the governor of Florida, was always the 'good son,' while Bush was considered the black sheep and, according to his family and friends, had achieved nothing without the influence of his powerful family.

Oliver Stone rejects that assessment - suggesting instead that the greatest achievements in Bush's life - like getting 'clean' and becoming a sober, stable Christian - stem from his own inner strength - in spite of, rather than because of, the influence of his domineering parents.

It's in portraying Bush surmounting those obstacles that W. becomes such a compelling film. My opinion of Bush has certainly been changed by watching his story. I used to think of him as an arrogant, over-privileged frat boy with John Wayne delusions. Now I realize that he was a much more complex character than I could ever have imagined.

The focus of the film itself is the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq - a decision that has polarized America and will remain the albatross around Bush's neck long after he's left the White House.

How Oliver Stone felt about the war is clear - the final moments of the film graphically illustrate the repercussions of this ill-considered invasion. Nevertheless, Stone does an astonishing job in ushering us into Bush's inner circle and explaining his motivation behind the invasion.

I watched Cheney, Powell and Rice present their case for war and I was enthralled. Even more surprisingly, at the end of it, I understood why Bush was so adamant about invasion.

What Oliver Stone does so effectively is allow us to see things from Bush's perspective. Here is a man of deep-rooted convictions, who believes in moral absolutism and moral objectivism and doesn't see the 'grey' area between right and wrong.

It's that unflinching attitude which made him remain resolute and uncompromising in the face of increasingly hostile public opinion. Whatever you think about about the Iraq war, after watching W. you will at least see how Bush saw it. He honestly believed that he was doing the right thing for America, Iraq, the Middle East and, ultimately, the world.

Stone, a conspiracy theorist to the last, throws in a suggestion that Dick Cheney was manipulating Bush in order to help build an American 'energy empire' in the Middle East. Whether you believe that theory or not, it's nevertheless clear that Stone thinks Bush's motivations were absolutely honorable (if misguided.)

And that's how the film ends, with Josh Brolin's Bush both puzzled and disappointed to find Iraq becoming a quagmire and public opinion turning sharply against him. He'd done the right thing in his mind - made the tough decisions for the benefit of America and the world. It was ultimately downbeat and depressing not to have that conviction appreciated(or, at least, recognized.)

Who knows if the real George Bush feels that way.

W. is ultimately an incredibly satisfying and thought provoking film. I think fans of Bush, or conservatives in general, will be utterly astonished how sympathetic Oliver Stone's portrait is and how likable and honorable Brolin's Bush appears on screen.

Liberals, such as myself, will be left feeling deeply uncomfortable. In many ways, we share that same moral absolutism as Bush and have adopted him as a sort of 'bogeyman' representing everything that's wrong with the conservative movement.

To see a complex, convincing case explaining (if not justifying) the man's actions challenges every liberal preconception we have.

Whatever you think of Bush, I strongly recommend seeing this film. It's quite simply the finest presidential biography ever committed to celluloid.

W. by Oliver Stone is available from Amazon.com for $17.99