The Good Shepherd

[Jan Klimkowski]

That being noted, I must take issue with you, Jan. In the hands of a better informed and more gifted writer, The Good Shepherd might have succeeded not in spite of, but because of its direct historical depictions of characters and events.

Yes, the job would have been immensely more "difficult." But to quote Rocco, one of Michael Corleone's two most trusted hitters, when asked by his boss in The Godfather, Part II if Hyman Roth can be killed ...

"Difficult, but not impossible."

I wouldn't disagree. But I suspect it also comes down to intellectual honesty and one's conception of truth.

The Bay of Pigs storyline in The Good Shepherd is posited on the notion that a mole betrayed the timing of the invasion. For dramatic reasons, this "mole" turns out to be the Damon/Angleton character's son, presenting Damon with ultimate moral choices.

The moral dilemma is fine... as drama. Its supposed historical context cannot be other than rubbish... as history.

Having said that, those people who believe Lee Harvey Oswald assasinated JFK alone doubtless conclude that Oliver Stone's movie, JFK, is rubbish.

The combination of Angelina Jolie's gross miscasting and the Bay of Pigs nonsense make it impossible for me willingly to suspend disbelief when watching The Good Shepherd.

One last observation before I go to the mattress: I've not read this anywhere else, but I see the Corleone family in part as a Kennedy family analog: The Don is papa Joe; Sonny is Jack; Michael is Bobby; and poor Fredo is Teddy.

Not a bad fit at all. JFK was rather headstrong, whilst Bobby was intellectually calculating. And Teddy is the compromised family idiot.