A labor of love from actor/writer/director Emilio Estevez, Bobby is a very well written, deftly directed and incredibly acted ensemble piece.

1968 was a year of great political and social turmoil in the United States of America. Over the last 5 years John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, three men who promised great change for America, were all assassinated and the Vietnam War had no sign of stopping. The nation’s only hope rested on the shoulders of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who announced his intention to run for the President of the United States.

His campaign brought him to Los Angeles on June 4 at the Ambassador Hotel, where Kennedy was holding a function on the day of the Californian primary. During this time, Bobby looks at the lives of several characters that were all present on that day.

Each actor in this star studded cast is given equal screen time showcasing great performances, especially Sharon Stone, Demi Moore and Freddy Rodriguez.

Filmed in part at the actual Ambassador Hotel during its demolition, Estevez creates a visually satisfying movie that takes us back to the late 1960’s, thanks to Lisa Fischer and Radha Mehta’s set decoration and Julies Weiss’ costumes. Actual archive footage of Kennedy is sliced in the film and works very well.

Represented are the philosophies of an era where civil and social rights were expressed in the face of much adversity. Race, age, faith, love, drugs, war, sex, and marriage are just some of the topics discussed in Estevez’ script, as the last lingering of hope is placed in a man whose death (according to Estevez) marked the end of decency, manners, poetry and hope in America.

Sure, Bobby has too many characters, with some of the sub-plots often tedious and distracting. But Estevez’s intentions are clear; he wanted to show that this was where humanity wept as the last bright light in a very dark world was taken away from us, and God bless him for doing so because in the land of the cynic at least someone had the guts to remind us just what hope is and what it was like to place your faith in another person.