Zapruder Film

I've seen the Zapruder film many times in recent years, but never slowed down and looped endlessly. It seems so tame compared to the things we see on television these days, yet, it is extremely powerful and haunting at the same time. Seeing the President waving to adoring bystanders one minute and slumping over the next is something that sticks with you. Seeing Jackie Kennedy scrambling to save what's left of her husband when we know the final result is shocking. And to think we wouldn't even have this footage if a random man hadn't shot this entire thing on his handheld video camera. Initially, I hadn't understood why this film was so shocking and chilling. However, last weekend as I was going to the mall, I drove in near the parking lot only to see it taped off by the police. A pair of black shoes were on the ground. A man had run over an elderly woman. My gut churned. Just like with the Zapruder film, it's harder and more scary to see something so mundane and banal as a pair of shoes or a grainy film that it is to see something gory and excessive.

In some sense I think the Zapruder film is the perfect compliment to Libra. Both are extremely understated, there are no incredibly gory and violent scenes in Libra. It is an intellectual spy-like novel that engages the reader and focuses on how something so explosive as the assassination of a President can be plotted in our boring everyday lives. I really think DeLillo had to have watched the Zapruder film to get that same cinematic, scene-by-scene effect right as Lee is about to pull the trigger. The theories to come out of the Zapruder film work flawlessly with how DeLillo set up the scene with the shooters on the grassy hill and Raymo and Lee. Watching the Zapruder film really framed Libra well and I think it really helped me understand the point of view DeLillo wanted to establish.