In the last year America’s fascination with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy has been the subject of many films. While Lee Daniels’ The Butler highlighted the shooting in his film about the civil rights movement, films like Killing Kennedy starring Rob Lowe, and Letters to Jackie flesh out different stories on the killing, focusing on both the event and the aftermath.
Currently the Toronto Film Festival is going on, which has led to the introduction of yet another JFK centered film. Parkland deals with the direct aftermath that ensues after the assassination. The film stars a huge ensemble, including Zac Efron, Paul Giamatti, Billy Bob Thornton, Mark Duplass, Jacki Weaver, Colin Hanks, James Badge Dale, Jacki Weaver, Colin Hanks and Marcia Gay Harden.
It’s not surprising that cinema would focus heavily on the JFK assassination in the year 2013. Afterall, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the president’s death, which means all of the theorizing and analytical speculation on the events surrounding JFK’s death are now coming out of the wood work and on to the big screen.
Parkland is based on the novel “Four Days in November: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy” by Vincent Bugliosi. The book much like the film takes a look at the crime committed, and doesn’t get tangled up in all the what ifs that some films have taken in the past.
In the clip we’re shown Zac Efron as Dr. Charles Carrico, who is a doctor at Parkland Hospital, which is the location that holds JFK’s body after medics tried to resuscitate the body. We’re immediately put into the action of the scene, with Kennedy’s body being rushed on a gurney with his wife’s pink hat laying flat on his chest, as he lay lifeless. The urgency of the matter is felt in this intense clip, and like Efron we’re merely spectators in this horrible American tragedy.
Parkland was directed and written by Peter Landesman, and produced by Tom Hanks and Bill Paxton.
The film hits theaters outside of Toronto on October 4.
