Chappaquiddick is set some 50 years ago, on a warm July night in 1969, when Edward “Ted” Kennedy (Jason Clarke) drives off a bridge and into the water, leaving Mary Jo Kopechne (Kate Mara) alone in the car to die afterwards. After Kennedy abandons Kopechne in the water, he walks all the way back to his rented house. His cousin Joe Gargan (Ed Helms) sees him there, dripping wet and staring out into space. “Come on, Teddy,” says Gargan. “What’s the big idea?”
“I’m not going to be president,” Kennedy responds.
This is an astonishingly honest line full of self-pity, real pain and the family obligation to live up to his deceased brothers Joe, John and Robert. This was just one line in a superb performance by Clarke, and oddly, even while he pities himself, you can feel some pity for him as well. Lines like this make one rethink the spoon-fed perception of America’s favorite political family, the Kennedys. This movie paints a different picture of sweet Ted Kennedy, instead portraying him as a deeply troubled man who doesn’t seem to care that he let a woman die.
It is never easy to dramatize a public figure such as a Kennedy, but it is even harder to lay out a case for their moral negligence. The director, John Curran, manages it by never resorting to the melodrama one might expect from a story of the Kennedys, but that occasionally makes Chappaquiddick painful to watch. It is a film looking to challenge America’s gauzy perception of the country’s most famous political family, loaded with all the bleakness that is expected.
Not only is the plot of the movie intriguing by itself, the themes and topics within the movie are also extremely relevant to today’s society. In response to the incident in Chappaquiddick, Ted Kennedy sets up a “fake news” campaign, very similar to the dialogue of President Trump when he refers to the sensationalism within the mainstream media. It is hard as a Kennedy fan and a liberal to see the corruption and self-pity displayed by Ted, but it is a story that is necessary to tell.
Despite the overwhelming positive feelings I have about this movie, I do have two major critiques with how the film was done. First off, Joe Kennedy, Ted’s uncle, talks in this movie, which does not make any sense because Joe Kennedy was not able to talk due to his severe stroke. Additionally, I would have liked to see more of how the public responded. While there was a part about this at the end, it would have really rounded out the story to see the public opinion throughout. Overall, though, I would give the movie four out of five stars. It is a must-watch for anyone remotely interested in politics, history or fake news.