This rousing, Oscar-nominated film on the
publication of the Pentagon Papers underlines the importance of a free press.
(Review by Patrick Compton - 8/10)
The press, as we know, has been under heavy
attack in the United States with its rogue President routinely describing the
truth as “fake news”. It’s no wonder, then, that Steven Spielberg’s impeccably
liberal new movie about the decision of the Washington Post’s owner, Katharine
Graham, to publish the Pentagon Papers feels particularly timeous.
Hopefully, this cinematic tribute to a free
press won’t end here. If there is much to appreciate in The Post, many South Africans will harbour even more intense
emotions about the proud role of our local media and brave whistleblowers
relating to state capture and the shady manoeuvrings of the criminal Gupta
family. What odds on a movie to commemorate what is currently unravelling in
our country?
In 1971, former Pentagon analyst Daniel
Ellsberg leaks a massive archive of government classified material disclosing
that successive US administrations have been lying about the Vietnam War. We
learn that they have long since known that the war was unwinnable, but kept on
sending troops anyway. The war went on, it is suggested, not because of the
dangers of communist incursion, but simple US hubris that couldn’t countenance
military defeat.
Ironically, it was the New York Times that
initially broke the story but it was then indicted from publishing any further
material. The Washington Post – then regarded as the lesser newspaper – was
given access to the same files and was then faced with the dilemma of whether
to publish further stories illegally.
The principals in this handsomely mounted
period drama as conceived by Spielberg and first-time screenwriter Liz Hannah
are Meryl Streep as Katharine Graham and Tom Hanks as editor Bill Bradlee. Both
give robustly excellent performances. The film explores their relationship in
interesting ways, not only focusing on the natural tensions that exist between
owner and editor, but also the dangers of newspaper people getting too close to
politicians.
Of the two roles, Streep’s is perhaps the
more dramatically interesting as she portrays a woman who is thrown
unexpectedly into the role of proprietor after her husband’s untimely death.
Surrounded by men who see her as little more than a society hostess, Graham has
to find her inner steel and conviction as male boardroom fainthearts implore
her not to risk her newspaper’s future by publishing the incriminating
documents.
This proto-feminist angle is then
underlined in a striking scene – perhaps more symbolic than real – when Graham
emerges from the Supreme Court after the release of the judgment. As she
descends the steps, her progress is silently followed by a wide-eyed phalanx of
admiring young female protesters. There are some other typically Spielbergian
melodramatic flourishes, particularly Graham’s big moment when she makes her
decision about whether to publish, surrounded by a room full of disapproving
men.
The movie’s only disappointment is that the
heroic role played by Ellsberg has to be relatively downplayed. His decision to
leak the documents was not only a landmark moment for the American media, but
also that of whistleblowing as Watergate followed quickly on its heels, to be
followed, in recent times, by the revelations of Edward Snowden. Now 86 years
of age, Ellsberg is still campaigning for government transparency. Commenting
recently on the significance of the Pentagon Papers and Snowden, he said:
“Secrecy corrupts, just as power corrupts.” Perhaps he can have a movie all to
himself.
Aside from the movie's moral dimensions,
veteran journalists will love the period detail that goes back to the days of
hot metal type, typewriters and pay phones.
The
Post, which opened on January 26, is showing at the
Gateway, Suncoast, Watercrest and Midlands malls. – Patrick Compton
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