"To sin by silence when we should protest makes cowards of men."

This quote begins Oliver Stone's 1991 epic, JFK. This is by no mistake. Stone is setting the tone for the rest of his movie. President Kennedy's 1963 assassination still remains today as one of the worst atrocities modern America has witnessed. Questions are raised today, nearly forty years later, was the President a victim of some well schemed plot, a conspiracy, or was he gunned down by a single lone gunman, as the Warren Commission wants us to believe. This is an extremely confusing issue with hundreds of different points of view with pros and cons of all. Stone doesn't try and prove nor disapprove a single conspiracy theory he just tries to open the American public's mind to the possibility of a conspiracy or even further a coupe' de ta. He wants us to believe that maybe all were in on the killing together. Not only is this a confusing theory to follow, but with the continual flashbacks, fabricated black and white newsreels and powerful quotes it only adds to our

In the heat of the investigation Garrison is summoned to Washington D.C. by someone who claims to have extensive knowledge of the assassination. There is no record that Mr. X ever existed so a meeting with him would be impossible, but the scene is crucial in the support of a conspiracy. The scene begins with quick flashes to many important American landmarks located in D.C., the White house, Washington monument so on. We then see Garrison emerge from The Lincoln memorial as a man summoned by the great men of history and democracy to find the truth for the American people. This seems to be a very ironic place to meet since Lincoln himself was also killed by an assassin while in office. Mr. X then begins to develop his mysterious identity and proves that he has done secretive work when he continually looks around nervously and offers a false alias. Stone then has Mr. X tell of his military history. How he was in two wars while in military intelligence doing covert, "black" operations. This builds up his credibility amongst the viewers. If anyone should know of secret government operations this man should. Stone continually has the camera flash to the Washington Monument and other landmarks. Stone uses close ups to emphasize points that Mr. X is making while he switches back to wide lens views when he wants to show the relevance of D.C. and the involvement of the government. While Mr. X begins to explain the intertwining conspiracy we see black and white newsreels of what he is talking about. He talks of the militaries dislike of Kennedy's foreign policy and then the film flashes to newsreels of the Bay of Pigs invasion and American intervention in Vietnam in the 1950's. We also see flashbacks of events many with Mr. X present. This adds to his credibility and to the possible truth of his stories. Every point made by Mr. X is backed with a visual flashback to help us understand and follow the sto

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1296
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)