A masterfully crafted film that plays deceptive games with the truth to present a thrilling narrative, JFK is a film that deals with an event that has continued to raise questions to this day. Despite this, Oliver Stones personal opinions on the assassination of JFK, among other things, has shifted what should viewed as a film about the dangers of chasing ghosts into a presentation of Mr. Stones actual beliefs about the event. 

Going down the rabbit hole of conspiracy is a dangerous game, because it posits that such things can be carried out on such a large scale while still remaining a secret, despite the sheer improbability of such things. Benjamin Franklin once said “Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.”

Mr. Garrisons experience is that of an endless search for a truth that always seems to be just out of reach, much like the depiction of Robert Graysmith in David Finchers “Zodiac”. In the same vein, this eventually takes a toll on his social and family life, going so far as to sink his career for the sake of chasing a supposed truth.

Similarly, Garrison and Graysmith both go to great lengths to ensure the alleged perpetrators of the crime are held responsible for their actions. However, unlike in JFK, Arthur Leigh Allen’s potential guilt as the zodiac killer is far more ambiguous.

 In JFK, we are presented with depictions of conspiratorial events leading up to the presidents assassination as if they are a given fact that these occurred, and that Clay Shaw is essentially getting away with murder due to the cunning wit of the broader conspiracy in silencing witnesses and testimony.

In reality, Clay Shaw was essentially pilloried and discredited in front of the eyes of America, for having a tenuous at best link to Lee Harvey Oswald and being a gay man. Mr. Garrison himself described the assassination as a “homosexual thrill-killing.” 

This is, in my view, the narrative flaw of a perfect film. It is a historical fiction presented as fact. If Oliver Stone had let the film be more ambiguous, leaving the viewer to decide for themselves whether the actions of Mr. Garrison and others and any merit whatsoever, it would be a complete 10 out of 10. 

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."