i saw an advance screening of this film & it's positively first-rate in every regard. the screenplay by dan giat is incisive, thorough, even-handed yet decisively moral in its view of the vietnam war. apparently, the writer spent his lifetime researching the details that led to the escalation of american involvement in southeast asia. john frankenheimer directs with taut economy & underlines the very human drama that lead to the decision making process of america's top leaders. it's clear that there were no easy, glib decisions to be made on either side. and the performances are all stellar, but michael gambon soars in a tour-de-force. his portrait of LBJ is downright shakespearean in its tragic dimensions. we see a man eager to enact great social change yet pressured against his own instincts to enter a war he didn't truly believe in. the modern day parallels are a tad frightening: a texan in the white house, an uncertain war in a foreign land americans know little about, and an encroaching military whose budgetary demands grow at an alarming rate. this is a must see for any one with a conscience.
Review of Path to War
