Bulworth is a 1998 Academy Award-nominated American film which was co-written, co-produced and directed by the film’s star, Warren Beatty. The film co-stars Halle Berry, Oliver Platt, Don Cheadle, Paul Sorvino, Jack Warden, and Isaiah Washington. The film follows the title character, California Senator Jay Billington Bulworth (Beatty), as he runs for re-election.
Political and social commentary
This film presents a great deal of controversial political and social commentary—often, but not always, through Bulworth’s open, honest, and unusual campaign speeches. These speeches are often especially (and comically) controversial due to the demographic of Bulworth’s audience, and many of the beliefs espoused by Bulworth closely mirror Beatty’s actual political beliefs. Memorable scenes include his comments to the African American church near the beginning; his comments to the supposedly Jewish movie producers (which may also be a tongue-in-cheek comment on behalf of the writers); Bulworth’s comments about corporations controlling the American political system, and the ongoing comments depicting Democrats and Republicans as being just as bad as the other. Nina also makes some insightful comments as to why there are no black leaders anymore, as does L.D. in justifying using children in his drug-dealing business, which Bulworth later repeats verbatim on CNN. The assassination of Bulworth is iconic in that the imagery of the scene is similar to the photo record of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in which the people present pointed to where the shot came from in the picture. This further illustrates the movie’s theme that the black leaders are dying. It can be inferred that Bulworth was destined to be the next great leader of the African American community. This can also be inferred by Nina’s family referring to themselves as Bulworth Democrats. However, the overall theme of the film is espoused by an anonymous vagrant (played by poet Amiri Baraka) who encourages Bulworth to, “Sing, be a spirit, Don’t be no ghost!”, an exhortation to be outspoken.