‘Ethel’ is portrait of a Kennedy

By Lynn Elber

AP Television Writer

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.

In the thick of the presidential campaign, a documentary about a political wife wouldn’t seem to offer respite from the clatter.

But that’s exactly what “Ethel,” an intimate, affectionate look at Ethel Kennedy by her youngest child, manages to do. It’s a heartfelt reminder of public service’s rewards and heaviest demands, elements that can be lost in the moment’s rough-and-tumble.

It also honors a rarely interviewed Kennedy wife who was eclipsed by her more glamorous sister-in-law and sister in tragedy, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.

Debuting tonight on HBO (9 p.m.), “Ethel” offers the life and times of Robert F. Kennedy’s widow through the lens of accomplished filmmaker Rory Kennedy, born six months after her father’s 1968 assassination.

Her mother is a reluctant star but, with the help of siblings and a rich film and photo collection, Rory Kennedy creates a portrait of a feisty, devout and socially concerned woman who carried — and carries — on despite the shattering loss.

“Ethel” weaves family memories with the major events of her husband’s political life, including the Cuban missile crisis that confronted his brother, President John F. Kennedy, and RFK as U.S. attorney general.

It also creates a charming portrait of Ethel Skakel as a girl who would rather handicap the ponies than study her schoolbooks and who raised her children to be game competitors, never whiners, and never shrinking violets.

But Ethel Kennedy’s on-camera discomfort marks her as clearly out of step with the Facebook crowd. So why agree to the project?

“Because it was Rory who asked,” replied Kennedy, 84.