VANTAGE POINT

US, 2008, 90 minutes, Colour.
Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forrest Whitaker, Eduardo Noriega, Edgar Ramirez, Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt, Bruce Mc Gill, Said Taghmaoui, Aylet Zurer, Zoe Saldana, James Legro.
Directed by Pete Travis.

Quite a breathless film, only 90 minutes of action during a presidential assassination at a peace conference in Spain. What makes it different is that it shows differing vantage points, different perspectives on the events, with the audience having the final advantage vantage point of having seen all the stories.

Filmed in Mexico using a double, a set of Salamanca’s main square, the action confines itself to the square, the hotels, the streets surrounding the square. Nevertheless, it has a great deal of action and pace with the shooting of the president, bombs exploding and a speeding car chase in the inner city.

However, this is more than just an action film. It wants the audience to think about issues as well. Taking the realities of terrorism today as its basis, it shows the president (William Hurt) as a man of peace and some restraint compared with his hawkish advisers who want to bomb, immediately, a terrorist site in Morocco. It also shows a picture of terrorists who are calmly fanatical but who have no hesitation in causing widespread killing and destruction.

It also has a picture of how important the electronic media are today, especially television news, in providing instant information, edited by a producer according to station policy. Sigourney Weaver is the hard-working, hard-hitting producer. However, the world today is a video camera world with bystanders filming everything as well as a mobile phone world for photos, texting and calls – and for setting off explosive devices. Forest Whitaker is a tourist in the square whose video material is valuable for the Secret Service.

The film also highlights the role of the Secret Service (film buffs remembering the fine 1990s Clint Eastwood drama, In the Line of Fire), their training, alertness, risks, on the spot assessments as well as the pressure to work within acceptable bounds of pursuit and weapon fire. Denis Quaid is the agent who has taken a bullet for the president and stands in the (exaggerated) tradition of the American loner who pursues the enemy, pulls off the rescue, rights wrongs, and overcomes any trauma from the past to become the hero.

French, Spanish and Israeli actors portray the terrorists.

Needless to say, one can pick holes in the screenplay after the event (and some during) but Barry Levy’s script shows a great deal of meticulous attention to detail to bring together what seem remarks in passing or accidents and incidents when first seen. With each of the vantage point stories, there is a literal rewind, but each of the stories advances the main plot (in all senses of plot) and each finishes with a cliffhanger. And there are a couple of twists along the way that most will not foresee.

There is an ironic note at the end about a lone gunmen which reminds viewers of conspiracy plots and the Kennedy assassination. The film was directed by Pete Travis whose film, Omagh, on the fatal bombings in Northern Ireland in 1998, is well worth seeing.

1. The title, the variety of viewpoints, the audience viewpoint? The vantage point of the audience looking at each of the characters’ points of view?

2. The Spanish setting, city of Salamanca, Mexico City locations, the square, streets, hotels, the atmospheric score?

3. The editing, the point of view of each story, the rewinding, pace, stunts, the television broadcast and the manner of editing, the special effects?

4. The structure: the various stories, their length, rewinding, the cliff-hanger?

5. The performances in each story, different as from the point of view of the other storytellers? The audience conclusions?

6. The different stories, the cumulative effect, the end of each chapter, the overall story?

7. Issues of peace, terrorism, international collaboration, the conference, the speeches, the declarations, the American president, the Hawkish attitudes of his advisers? The war on terror?

8. The American president, his status, the many Secret Service, the local police, the president’s double, the American perspective, the single American hero and the resolution, the critique of American policy?

9. The variety of twists, the more information given, especially about the double, especially about Kent Taylor and his betrayal?

10. The television story, Rex as the producer, her assistants and their work, the variety of cameras, her commands and contacts with each of them, the decisions about what was to be shown, the story, the sensational aspects? The past footage of Barnes taking the bullet for the president? Angie, on camera, her views, questions, the producers and their criticism of her, the suddenness of her death, Barnes and his use of the footage, his watching Kent Taylor on the screen? The cooperation of the TV station?

11. Barnes, his back-story, getting ready for his duty, the footage of the past, taking the bullet, his nervousness, shaking hand? The other Secret Service people and their comments, his support from Taylor? At work, driving with the president, standing on guard, surveying the crowd, the window, his orders, the reactions? His chasing Enrique, Howard Lewis and his camera, looking at the footage? The television and seeing Taylor, the car chase, the confrontation with the ambulance, saving the president?

12. Enrique, watching Veronica, with her contact? His presence, part of the police, working for the mayor, the shots, his running, being tackled, his further escape, the running chase, Howard Lewis filming him, seeing the culprits, evading pursuit, on the streets, the ambulance, the recognition, his comment on the brother, his being tricked, shot?

13. Howard Lewis and his camera, watching, photographing the window and the blowing curtain, his back-story, leaving his wife and children, the phone calls? The ice cream and Anna bumping him? Suarez and his casual conversation? The blast, the phone call, pursuit and the camera, his running, saving Anna on the street? Photographing Enrique dying?

14. The president’s story, in himself, seeing him over and over getting out of the car, ascending the dais, his speech, being shot? In the car, the information, the issue of the double, going to the hotel, the question of striking the camp in Morocco, his watching out the window, the hawkish advisers, his more moderate tone, the diplomatic consequences? The reaction of the terrorists? The attack on the Secret Service men, their deaths? The president and his fear, abduction, in the ambulance, the final attack, his attacking Veronica, his being freed?

15. The conspirators, Javier and the issue of his brother, the capture and killing of his brother? Enrique giving the bag to Veronica, the message? The hotel and the worker, the suicide bomber? Suarez and his control? The computer experts behind the scenes? Suarez and the conversation with Howard Lewis? The timing, the bomb going off in the hotel? Enrique and his still being alive, the pursuit? The window and the remote-controlled gun? Removing it? Javier and his going to the hotel, the deaths of the Secret Service men, the capture of the president? With Kent Taylor in the car, the pursuit? Veronica and Suarez, the ambulance, Suarez having to help in the emergency? With the president, the crash, the shooting?

16. Anna, the ice cream, her mother, the danger on the road? The rescue?

17. The range of Secret Service personnel, their training, their work, their being killed?

18. Themes of peace, terror, motivation, fanatics?

19. The role of the media, electronic visuals, cameras, video, television, mobile phones? For evidence?

20. The final cover-up – and the final news about the lone gunman, echo of the conclusions of the Kennedy assassination report?