Sorry, I couldn't find a trailer on YouTube - hence the interviews instead.

Quick Summary: Detailed, intriguing, and ultimately disturbing, Chappaquiddick is a powerful, fascinating film.

Title: Chappaquiddick

Release: 2017

Director: John Curran

Starring:

Jason Clarke (Ted Kennedy)

Kate Mara (Mary Jo Kopechne)

I didn't know much about the Chappaquiddick incident before I saw this film. I knew that Ted Kennedy drove his car off a bridge, and I knew that he survived when his passenger drowned. And I knew that Kennedy was, well, a Kennedy, the younger brother of JFK and Robert. That was all I knew.

I didn't know that Kopechne had worked on Robert's campaign, or that Ted was considered a potential presidential candidate himself. And I had never thought about how the death of Ted's brothers and the overwhelming pressure of being the only surviving son of an overbearing father might taint Kennedy's life and impair his judgement.

The film starts with Kennedy arriving at a little cottage on Chappaquiddick Island. Kennedy has invited a group of friends to help him figure something out: does Ted want to run for president? Among the guests are such luminaries as the Attorney General of Massachusetts, as well as four young women, known as the "boiler room girls", who worked on the late Robert Kennedy's presidential campaign. Among these women is Mary Jo Kopechne. Ted offers Mary Jo a job, on his own campaign; he takes her for a drive to discuss the job offer further; he drives his car off a bridge, and then fails to report the accident until the next morning.

The film takes a few positions that people more familiar with the event than I am may find controversial, but which work well in the movie:

- the initial accident was just that, an accident, albeit one caused by Kennedy's reckless drunk driving;

- Kennedy returns to the cottage and enlists the help of his friends to attempt to rescue Kopechne, but they are unsuccessful;

- Kopechne is alive and conscious in the car long enough that, had the accident been reported immediately, police divers could have rescued her;

- Kennedy does appear to be in shock after the initial accident, but stories about having a concussion or otherwise being partially incapacitated are false.

Everything else in the film plays out from these premises. We get to watch Kennedy's actions, and how they influenced his future. Unspooling against the backdrop of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the movie tells a fascinating tale of lies, guilt, and political spin. In the end, the viewer feels sorry for, well, everybody.

I was pleased with every technical aspect of this movie, but must mention two things in particular:

1) The delicious graininess used for any segment representing television footage was brilliantly reminiscent of old newscasts.

2) Clarke's Kennedy accent is astonishingly good. I did not know that he was Australian until I looked him up while writing this review.