NOW SHOWING

MOVIE: Chappaquiddick STARRING: Kate Mara, Jason Clarke, Olivia Thirlby, Ed Helms, Jim Gaffigan

RATING: M SHOWING AT: The Strand REVIEWER: Wenlei Ma 3.5/5

JOE Kennedy was what they called a son-of-a-b**ch.

After Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, old Joe only had one son left: Ted.

He carried the burden of the Kennedy name and the expectations that came with it, from those within his family and from the American public. So when he was involved in a fatal car crash on Chappaquiddick Island in the summer of 1969, protecting Ted Kennedy’s presidential prospects was key.

That context is important in understanding what may have happened the night 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne drowned after the car Kennedy was driving flipped and crashed into the water.

A satisfying, slow-burn character study, John Curran’s

Chappaquiddick is the first non-documentary film based on the incident. Lesser known than many of the other tragic stories plaguing America’s royal family, it did, in many ways, limit Ted Kennedy’s career and added to the myth of the so-called “Kennedy Curse”.

Kennedy (Australian actor Jason Clarke) was hosting a party on Chappaquiddick Island, a reunion of sorts for the “Boiler Room Girls”, women who worked for Bobby Kennedy’s presidential campaign.

Among the guests were Kopechne (Kate Mara), Kennedy cousin Joe Gargan (Ed Helms) and Massachusetts US Attorney Paul Markham (Jim Gaffigan).

Kennedy and Kopechne leave the party, both a little drunk, and drive off in his car. After a stop and a deep-and-meaningful, the Oldsmobile veers off a bridge and end up in the water, upside down. Kennedy manages to free himself but Kopechne drowns.

Kennedy doesn’t report the incident for nine hours. What happens (and why) in those nine hours is what the very watchable Chappaquiddick is hinged on.

Chappaquiddick is in cinemas now.