The Spirit Haunting American History: A Review of "Oswald's Ghost" DVD

There are few events in American history that bring about more controversy and passion than the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It seems that most of the world, let alone most Americans, firmly believe that the young and handsome President was gunned down as part of a vast conspiracy that may have involved people within his own government. Why? Because he wanted to change things, is the most often cited reason. He wanted to bring about an end to the military actions that would soon explode into the Vietnam War.

Personally, I am a reformed conspiracy theorist. There was a time when I believed firmly that Kennedy was killed in some kind of conspiracy involving the Cubans and the CIA and possibly the mafia. These days, my feelings on that have changed. I once saw a documentary where scientists and forensic experts looked at all of the photographs and film that was taken during the moments on Dealey Plaza when the President's life ended. They were even able to reconstruct the moment of the shooting and actually get a bullet to fly the trajectory of the so-called "magic bullet." I also now know that a high-speed, high-caliber bullet fired at the front of a person'e head will NOT cause their head to move back and to the left. In fact, when you shoot someone like that, they actually tend to jerk TOWARD the gun and not away from it.

At the same time, PBS, the Public Broadcasting System, has a great and powerful series of documentaries entitled the "American Experience" collection. Their most recent documentary is called "Oswald's Ghost" and it's a fascinating look a the assassination, but it also an attempt to flesh-out this character of a man accused of one of the most shocking moments in American history. Does it answer all of the questions? No, not at all, in fact, it rehashes some of the same questions that people have been asking for years now. Does it provide a full and accurate picture of who Lee Harvey Oswald was? No, it does not, but it attempts to go further into showing us who he was than any other documentary I have seen about the assassination so far