I know, I know: Does the world really need one more documentary about the Kennedy assassination? I don't know that producer/writer/director Robert Stone asked himself that question specifically, but he certainly found his answer with Oswald's Ghost: in this case, a very qualified yes.

Originally broadcast as part of PBS's long-running (and generally excellent) American Experience series, Oswald's Ghost focuses not so much on the assassination itself, the single greatest source of conspiracy theories ever. Rather, Stone takes a mostly historiographic approach to the subject, examining how journalists, historians, writers, and researchers, as well as the general public, responded to the event, the Warren Commission report, and the countervailing conspiracy theories that emerged in the wake of those watershed 20th century events.

Stone traces the impact of these events through their twisted aftermath, including New Orleans D.A. Jim Garrison's notorious grandstanding in prosecuting businessman Clay Shaw, the public debate that occasionally cropped up on TV news programs, the reenactments and congressional committees, and so on. Stone's broad perspective could've been broader, though; aside from Norman Mailer, defenders of the lone gunman position are not heard from.  

Note that I wrote "mostly historiographic." Where Stone sticks to that broader view, Oswald's Ghost is, for all its limitations, a welcome overview to the whole phenomenon that is Kennedy assassination-ology. A few of the more important early contrarian writers (Mark Lane, who would've been Oswald's attorney, had he not crossed paths with Jack Ruby) are featured and their challenges to the Warren Commission are quickly explained. While their points of view are interesting, this diverts attention from the main thrust of Stone's point.

Most of the interviews are fascinating, however, because they do provide the big-picture context that keeps the film moving through the decades. Journalist/author Edward Jay Epstein and historian Edward Dallek provide a strong narrative insight into how perceptions changed through the years, particularly leading up to the Church Committee's investigation into CIA malfeasance following the Watergate hearings and Nixon's resignation; and then the House Select Committee on Assassination, which eventually arrived at the conclusion that more than one shooter was involved. That point has since been challenged, of course, in compelling fashion as modern forensics have evolved considerably since then; the History Channel and other cable networks have featured solid documentaries on both sides of the debate that have explored the audio record, reconstructed events from all existing footage (including Zapruder's, of course), and reproduced the actual shooting conditions, for the most part. For all that, of course, the debate is still unsettled, and always will be for many.

One of the real highlights of Oswald's Ghost is the interview footage with the late Norman Mailer (author of Oswald's Tale), whose own personal journey in coming to terms with JFK's assassination is itself fascinating. Mailer explains, in one longer segment, how he shifted from believing that a conspiracy was the only possible explanation to believing that Oswald acted alone, and why. It's a shame there isn't more interview footage with Mailer available as an extra.

There are a few extras to enjoy here. Footage from modern-day Dealy Plaza introduces us to Robert Groten, one of the modern-day conspiracy theorists, and a couple of other vendors (of theories and publications) in the area. An interview with filmmaker Stone (who also recently created the fascinating documentary Neverland: The Rise and Fall of the Symbionese Liberation Army).

As Stone himself points out, nearly two-thirds of Americans still believe a conspiracy was involved in the assassination of JFK. I would have loved to see him expand on that very subject more broadly. Epstein and historian Robert Dallek do yeoman's work in explaining some of the deeper impulses that keep so many of us from accepting the prospect that a lone nut could so completely alter our history, but a deeper exploration of this would've been most welcome. Instead, Stone occasionally drills down into specific challenges to the lone assassin/three-shot official story, which covers ground well covered before -- and doesn't give any of the case for the official story/Warren Commission report. In that sense, Oswald's Ghost comes off as somewhat dated, better suited to the state of Kennedy assassination research circa 1985 than 2007.

Those complaints aside, Oswald's Ghost is a pretty solid introduction to the assassination, its importance and enduring legacy (beyond even the killing of the U.S. president at a time of extraordinary global tension) to American history and culture, and some of the skepticism regarding the official story. If the JFK assassination is largely unfamiliar turf to you, Oswald's Ghost is not a bad place to start; if you've read plenty and seen as much from other documentaries, you probably won't find a lot here that you didn't already know.
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