A highly underrated film that on the surface is about political assassination but deeper down has profound things to say about film itself.
"The Parallax View" takes on the conspiracy-theory story in a new way. Almost needless to say, it gets its energy from the JFK conspiracy, in particular the never answered riddle as to how all the witnesses suddenly disappeared after JFK`s assassination. By the time "The Parallax View" was made (1974), almost everyone directly involved, from Oswald, to Ruby, from Zapruder, to ordinary witnesses to the shooting, had died in one way or another. I remember reading somewhere that the odds of this all happening within ten years of JFK`s shooting were astronomical. "The Parallax View" gives an exciting and original answer for this chain of events. However, (warning this may spoil it for those who have not yet seen the film) the film`s major achievement is Pakula`s inventive collage of pictures and sound that are used by the assassins as a test for potential recruits. Although it is only a few minutes long, it is the movie`s centerpiece. It is a marvel of playing on and examining the psychological conditions that can be met or manipulated in order to convince one to commit violence. It`s most profound aspect being that it shows the power of audio-visual stimulation on behavior. It is in this brief moment of the film where "The Parallax View" takes on a new and higher dimension. It is no longer a film about assassination and conspiracy, but a critique of itself as a medium. It is with this more profound element that the film asks the viewer to reflect back upon what they are seeing. The film is itself a larger scale version of the manipulative psychological test the assassins use. For example, Warren Beaty is the Captain America character, a handsome everyman who just wants to be hero. The music of the psychological test mirrors the film`s choice of musical score as in the ubiquitous 1970`s car chase with accompanying upbeat soundtrack. There is both the newspaper`s editor with his father-like quality, and Beaty`s ex-girlfriend substituting for the "Father" and "Love" segments of the assassins test, etc. It is thus, the ability to not only present a new take on the assassination story, but to provide a psychological analysis of how film deals with and manipulates emotions and behavior, that makes "The Parallax View" stand out as an important and unique movie.
"The Parallax View" takes on the conspiracy-theory story in a new way. Almost needless to say, it gets its energy from the JFK conspiracy, in particular the never answered riddle as to how all the witnesses suddenly disappeared after JFK`s assassination. By the time "The Parallax View" was made (1974), almost everyone directly involved, from Oswald, to Ruby, from Zapruder, to ordinary witnesses to the shooting, had died in one way or another. I remember reading somewhere that the odds of this all happening within ten years of JFK`s shooting were astronomical. "The Parallax View" gives an exciting and original answer for this chain of events. However, (warning this may spoil it for those who have not yet seen the film) the film`s major achievement is Pakula`s inventive collage of pictures and sound that are used by the assassins as a test for potential recruits. Although it is only a few minutes long, it is the movie`s centerpiece. It is a marvel of playing on and examining the psychological conditions that can be met or manipulated in order to convince one to commit violence. It`s most profound aspect being that it shows the power of audio-visual stimulation on behavior. It is in this brief moment of the film where "The Parallax View" takes on a new and higher dimension. It is no longer a film about assassination and conspiracy, but a critique of itself as a medium. It is with this more profound element that the film asks the viewer to reflect back upon what they are seeing. The film is itself a larger scale version of the manipulative psychological test the assassins use. For example, Warren Beaty is the Captain America character, a handsome everyman who just wants to be hero. The music of the psychological test mirrors the film`s choice of musical score as in the ubiquitous 1970`s car chase with accompanying upbeat soundtrack. There is both the newspaper`s editor with his father-like quality, and Beaty`s ex-girlfriend substituting for the "Father" and "Love" segments of the assassins test, etc. It is thus, the ability to not only present a new take on the assassination story, but to provide a psychological analysis of how film deals with and manipulates emotions and behavior, that makes "The Parallax View" stand out as an important and unique movie.