Book Review: “Chasing the Light” by Oliver Stone

As we are all probably well aware by now, Oliver Stone is one of my favourite directors ever with his film “JFK” (1991) being one of my favourite films of all time. He has directed amazing movies like “Any Given Sunday” and the legendary “Platoon” which is based on his own experiences as a soldier in the Vietnam War. But little do we know about what happened before all of this great directing. Oliver Stone lets us into his life in which there are many, many setbacks for him. His perseverance through broken relationships, both family and in love, failed odd jobs and many more left him without money and often without hope. But, this man still managed to find the time to write out scripts upon scripts which were rejected each and every time. Of course, there was no doubt that one day, he would write a script that would become a great movie as we read this book after a lengthy, successful career. Oliver Stone writes passionately about his experiences, with vigour, reality and does not seek to be anything he is not. He tells his story in words that all can understand and all will come to understand the story behind this legend which is one of constant kicks and punches. In the end though, he does not give up.

When we read the introduction to the book we are in the midst of the 80s where Oliver Stone is making one of his first ever movies “Salvador”. He is nearing 40 years’ old and has never really been on a big Hollywood project before. He introduces us to the time and place where he thinks he finally was able to say that he had succeeded in something, where he had actually stepped up without being kicked back down again. It is not only passionate but filled with uncertainty, hooking the reader on to know exactly why this man, who is almost 40, is only directing his first movie now. The answer to that is written in passages throughout the book. Each and every time he tries, he has failed. But failed does not mean given up - and Oliver Stone never gave up.

When we look at the first half of the book, we get his childhood, his 20s and his road to becoming 30 years’ old. His parents, he explains, are divorcing and his father is given custody of him as he finally makes the decision to run off and join the ranks in the Vietnam War. From what Stone sees in the Vietnam War, we get a vivid and almost ultra-realistic set of images that we are used to seeing in his movie “Platoon”. Each and every time we return to this almost daunting image of dead bodies and lies, Stone makes a point of saying how different it is from what is normally seen of war when you’re ‘winning’. When he arrives back however, he becomes almost like a drifter, going around and looking for places and people. He enrols in a acting class, he writes his screenplays in his spare time and he comes into a relationship which ends badly but without any real bitterness. So far, by the age of 30, Oliver Stone feels like his life lacks meaning.

The second half of the book begins to turn that into a story of perseverance though and we get a new kind of Oliver Stone - one who enters Hollywood as a complete outsider looking simply to do the best job he can with what he has. A product of his time and ahead of his time, Oliver Stone makes light of the situation of being an outsider to Hollywood as he has little money, no connections and the way in which he carries himself isn’t as if he has disappeared up his own ass like the Hollywood kind.

All in all, Oliver Stone’s autobiography is a story both complete and incomplete. It is complete as it tells us the how and why of his success, it is incomplete because I believe his success is not quite finished yet. He is a brilliant director with a fascinating story that would make any Hollywood-outsider or common misfit have that glimmer of hope for their success in the future if they persevere enough. Personally, I believe that this is an amazing achievement for Oliver Stone.