Rivera Stone's view of W

Oliver Stone's film "W" is stuffed full of artsy rhyming elements, symbolism, and mise en scene glory. Of course, he doesn't go all Tarantino and blow your mind with strange angles and long continuous scenes. Rather, if you pay attention, you will notice that Stone is more than just showing you something, he is telling you something.

The first scene to really catch my attention is a clever use of camera angles and camera movement. It is the scene (about 53 minutes in) where Bush Jr. is speaking with his preacher about the burden the Bush name puts on him. In one angle, the audience is exposed to a rather intimate frame in which W and the preacher push the edges of the frame. This emphasizes the importance of the words they are speaking. Now, if one looks to the background, one will realize this is not just a conversation between the two men, for perfectly placed between the two is a picture of Jesus. It is almost as if, although they feel this is a personal conversation between the two, they both hope that the lord is listening. In the next angle, the camera has switched to behind them. As they continue to converse, the camera pans around so again, in the perfect center, separating the two, is a sign on the wall that says "Lord". As the scene continues, the two kneel on the ground to pray together, the camera brings the audience to an intimate close up of Bush Jr, with him occupying the whole frame. The lighting in the room is a natural sunlight, keeping the image bright and almost angelic. The angles switch back and forth through the continuance of the prayer between an intimate view of the eye of W as he seems to be focused on something. When the camera shows us what W is looking at, we see another intimate close up of the eye of jesus in a painting, showing that W is "looking into Jesus's eyes" while he prays and becomes reborn.

The second scene that really stood out to me also dealt with a scene that reminded the viewer of a higher power. At about 100 minutes into the movie, the audience is listening to the finalization of plans to invade Iraq. Just as states "God bless our troops" he bows his head and the camera changes angles. This is the shot that REALLY catches my attention. The placement of the camera is a very low shot, so the audience is left looking up at an intimate level of George W. Bush. The lighting is set low, with the only light coming from over W's head in the shape of a "U". Now this is my favorite part of the scene. Bush says "and God bless America" and then places his hands folded in front of him in prayer. Now, the dominant in the scene is certainly the figure of Bush, almost reduced to nothing but a silhouette due to the low lighting. At this point, if the frame were to be paused, it would almost be hard to distinguish that the lights are in the background, and not on the same plane. The thing that interests me the most, and I will be the first to say that I may be looking too far into this, is that by folding his hands in prayer, Bush blends the objects in the background (the lights) into those in the mid ground (his hands) and turns the "U" into an "O". Now this is only interesting because this circular shape is dwelling over Bush's head, maybe...a halo perhaps? Along with what Bush says in this scene, and the content, I feel as though this was completely the intent that Stone had envisioned. The idea was to show that Bush felt as though he had the highest authority to invade Iraq. That at that moment, Bush felt that he was doing something to be proud of, he felt as though he was a superior being in that moment, with the world looking up to him in awe.