Jackie (2016) MOVIE REVIEW

For me, watching a movie and realizing it's spectacular remains one of the most exhilarating experiences one can have. The emotions I feel are quite similar to when your favorite baseball team hits a dramatic walk-off home run; absolute euphoria. Finding a film like this can be challenging. There is an endless supply of great films, but there are even more not worth scrolling through on Netflix. Jackie is not one of those films. Jackie is superb, and by the time the credits rolled, I was pumping my fist like I just won the World Series.

Few events in American history carry the mystique, the solemnity that follows the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It is an event where Americans living through that time can say exactly where on planet Earth they were when it happened. Director Pablo Larrain's film takes a deeply intimate look as to where First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy was during that, as well as the tumultuous days that followed. It also examines the personal tribulation Jackie experienced, and how she helped shape every American's memory of JFK's deservedly grand funeral.

If great films are rare, then films made great by a single actor are even rarer. That is exactly what Natalie Portman achieves in her poignant portrayal of the former first lady, her best performance yet. This film does not come close to excellence without her. With every line, movement, and facial expression, Portman paints a picture of a woman holding herself together whilst on the brink of shattering. It's difficult to imagine anyone having to live through such a horrifying experience. Yet, she did, and Portman does her famed character justice.

If there is one aspect of the film that could compete with Portman, it is the score, composed by Mica Levi. It sounds like it came straight out of a horror film, strings playing at an increasingly terrifying speed. This score perfectly illustrates the vacuum that has been created in Jackie's life, as it plays alongside many scenes of her walking around the White House unsure of what to do next. She's living through a nightmare, and the score is appropriately dark.

One scene that continues to floor me takes place in the hearse carrying her husband's body. She turns to the driver of the car and asks, "Do you know who James Garfield was?" The driver says he does not. Later, she asks, "Do you know who Abraham Lincoln was?" The driver responds, "He ended the Civil War. He freed the slaves." Both men were assassinated presidents.

This becomes a reoccurring question for Jackie throughout the film. Who will her husband be remembered as, a Lincoln or a Garfield? Essentially, this serves as the basis of the film. Jackie perseveres through personal anguish to ensure that her husband becomes a Lincoln.

What strikes me most about Jackie is its absolutely haunting nature. Even with knowledge about the events that unfolded, I was stunned by how unrelenting the film was. There are many images in the film that could easily unsettle an audience. However, rather than give a sanitized account, Larrain chooses to show every detail seen by those who experienced it. This is what launches the film from great to exceptional.

Due to no holds barred approach to the film, the audience is reminded that actual people lived through these events. Not just smiling figureheads that lived in a shiny secluded house, but real genuine people with psyches as fragile as anybody else.

Of course, the emotion of the film is helped by the seductive atmosphere, made possible by the historically accurate and somber tone created by Larrain. Choosing to use intimately close shots of Jackie and the people she talks to, he gives the viewer the feeling of being right there through every agonizing minute. 

While watching Jackie, one word kept popping in my head when trying to describe it: operatic. Much like an opera, Jackie is epic, grandiose, and, most of all, purely human. You may not always understand what the characters are saying, but, just by reading their faces, you'll know what they are feeling as your gut twists itself into knots. Everything is laid out on the table for you to absorb with the poignancy of our greatest first lady.

Watch the trailer here: