THE STORY
BROTHERS IS AN EPIC STORY told from a uniquely personal perspective. Based on David Talbot’s New York Times bestseller about Jack and Bobby Kennedy, this documentary feature will not only be a riveting political thriller, but a powerful family drama.
Based on over 150 interviews with Kennedy relatives and administration insiders, BROTHERS tells the untold story of Bobby Kennedy’s secret search for the truth about the assassination of his brother, a man to whom he had dedicated his life and career.
President John F. Kennedy confers with his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, during the buildup of military tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union that became the Cuban missile crisis. Courtesy Associated Press
The story opens on the afternoon of November 22, 1963, when Attorney General Robert Kennedy receives the shattering news about his brother at his estate in northern Virginia. The next hours and days are some of the most dramatic in American history. Fighting against his overwhelming grief, Bobby Kennedy flies into action to piece together the crime before the new administration – under the leadership of his bitter enemy, Lyndon Johnson – settles into power. As federal marshals loyal to the Kennedy family fan out around the perimeters of RFK’s estate – not knowing whether the younger brother will be the next target – Bobby Kennedy frantically digs into the plot that he believes has taken his brother’s life.
The President and first lady welcome the free leaders of the Bay of Pigs brigade at a December 1962 Orange Bowl ceremony in Miami. Bobby Kennedy believed that the seeds of his brother's assassination lay in the CIA's relentless covert campaign against Cuba. Courtesy JFK Library
By the end of the week, Bobby has amassed enough evidence to conclude that his brother has been murdered by a cabal of U.S. intelligence officials, military chiefs, and mobsters, who have targeted the president because of his increasingly peace-oriented policies. Bobby and the president’s widow, Jackie Kennedy, even prevail upon a close family friend to fly to Moscow to tell our Cold War enemies in the Kremlin that the Kennedy family does not blame them – they blame conspirators within our own government.
As the Kennedy family laid the fallen president to rest, Bobby and Jacqueline Kennedy’s rage at the “they” who had killed JFK was replaced by a paralyzing sense of loss. To close friends, it seemed Bobby’s crushing grief was compounded by a profound guilt, the feeling that he could have prevented his brother’s murder if he had only been more vigilant. Photo by Jacques Lowe
In the weeks after President Kennedy’s funeral, Bobby continues to investigate every lead, calling on his most trusted aides – his “band of brothers” – for help. Despite the Warren Commission’s strenuous efforts to put the American public’s suspicions to rest, Bobby is convinced the assassination is not simply the work of a lone assassin. But he keeps his own suspicions private, realizing that if he attacks the Warren Report in public, it will spark a political uproar and stymie his secret investigation.
Bobby warily eyes FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover during a meeting at the bureau. The attorney general came to view Hoover as a "menace to democracy," whose poisonous power over politicians came from his voluminous secret files. Photo by Jacques Lowe
After his initial burst of investigative zeal, Bobby slowly succumbs to a debilitating grief – and to the sobering realization that his power to bring his brother’s killers to justice is fading by the moment. He descends into a deep well of mourning, unable to act.
But then – aided by his sister-in-law, Jackie, who is struggling with her own suicidal suffering – RFK begins to come back to life. And as he does, he resumes his investigation into his brother’s assassination – a path that takes him from Mexico City to Dallas to New Orleans to Miami. Now a Senator from New York, he even slips quietly back into his old Justice Department offices at night to pore over top-secret files.
Photo by George Silk
Bobby also begins to wrestle with his political future. As the Johnson administration sinks deeper into the Vietnam mire, the peace wing of the Democratic Party pressures RFK to challenge the president. Bobby knows that only by returning to the White House can he resume his brother’s peace policies – and finally crack his brother’s unsolved case. But taking on a sitting president in his own party – a bitter and vindictive enemy – risks political suicide. And throwing himself into campaign crowds risks his very life.
And so begins the final arc of our story, the passion of Robert Kennedy – one of the most beautiful and wrenching sagas in American history. Bobby announces his bid for the White House in the very same Senate room where his brother had started his presidential journey eight years earlier. He runs – against the advice of intimates like Jackie, who feel in their hearts that he will be killed. He runs knowing that the same plotters who cut down his brother are now laying in wait for him. But with the war in Southeast Asia raging, racial strife tearing apart the country – and his brother’s agenda unfulfilled – Bobby feels that he has no choice. The campaign is the most passionate the country has ever witnessed, with the young, slightly-built candidate throwing himself into frantic crowds – into the wounded heart of America – who tear and claw at him, as if for their very salvation.
Bobby is swarmed by ecstatic supporters during his tumultuous 1968 presidential race.
BROTHERS is certain to stir strong emotions. No movie or TV miniseries has ever told this powerful story from the unique perspective of Bobby Kennedy – the most passionate, complex and fascinating of the Kennedy brothers. The public continues to be fascinated by the Kennedy mystique – now, perhaps, more than ever. We long for strong, progressive leadership, as America finds itself mired in another dismal cycle of endless war, unrestrained greed, and economic suffering. The story of the Kennedys’ brave and tragically brief journey can help point us toward a more enlightened America.