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Saturday, April 27, 2024
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HOLLYWOOD THE POST
EDITOR'S PICK
'The Post': A lucid ode to journalism (Review By Troy Ribeiro ;
Rating: ***)
Director Stephen Speilberg's "The Post" is a political thriller that documents a
moment in history where the scales are tipped toward corruption in the system.
Despite the events in the film taking place nearly five decades ago, it would be
irrelevant to go through a full discussion around it without mentioning its
relevance and more so its poignancy in relation to the present state of the
world and the leaders that are in power who utilise their authority for personal
gain and favourable poll numbers rather than in the interest of world peace.
Spielberg makes no direct indication of his intent, the opportunistic quality of
the project is enough to suggest as much. It is a wake-up call for the media to
remind them that "the press is to serve the governed, not the governors".
The film is also a cleverly made prequel of sorts to director Alan J. Pakula's
"All The President's Men", which detailed Washington Post's investigative
journalism that uncovered the Watergate scandal.
A couple of years prior to Watergate, after an encounter with the Secretary of
Defence Robert McNamara (Bruce Greenwood), Daniel Ellsberg (Matthew Rhys), a
military analyst for The Rand Corporation who travelled to Vietnam as an
observer of the war, released The Pentagon Papers to The New York Times,
Washington Post and other newspapers.
These top secret documents revealed that the war in Vietnam was manipulated by
the American government and it could not be won. Yet, it "sent boys to die" --
this they did largely to avoid the humiliation of the American defeat.
These papers were brought to the attention of Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee
(Tom Hanks) and its struggling publisher Katharine Graham (Meryl Streep),
setting off a series of moral, ethical, economic and legal conflicts.
Bradlee and his team of journalists, which includes Ben Bagdikaian (Bob
Odenkirk), Howard Simons (David Cross) and Meg Greenfield (Carrie Coon), unearth
the remaining Pentagon papers dealing in these Vietnam affairs after the US
Attorney General specifically requests The Times to refrain from further
publication of these documents.
Then US President Richard Nixon's administration threatens the newspapers with a
violation of the Espionage Act, which could send them all to prison, leaving
Graham and Bradlee with some tough decisions to make.
Bradlee is pushing to publish the remainder of these papers so as to take The
Post from being a local Daily to a National Daily. The tale comes across as a
tug of war, constantly keeping the audience wondering if The Post will publish
the papers or not.
The narrative in the initial stage is complex, overstretched and a little
monotonous at times with the endless discussions occurring either in mansions or
newsrooms. And these fine details get a bit tedious to absorb. Once this is
ironed out, things get simple. It is easy to digest. There is a sequence late in
the film that chronicles the assembly of the next morning's edition that is
truly fascinating in that it shows how much things have changed as well as how
much work was required in order to make a deadline in those heydays of print.
Hanks and Streep deliver performances we have come to expect from the
powerhouses that they are. The supporting cast stands out mostly in scenes where
Odenkirk is sent on a mission to recover the papers.
Brie also holds her own in scenes with Streep as they communicate a genuine, but
unique mother-daughter relationship. The likes of Jesse Plemons and Zach Woods
show up as lawyers on the payroll of The Post to help guide its staff in their
efforts to publish a story around these leaked documents that inadvertently
causes a fair amount of tension.
Overall, "The Post" is a smart, complex, non-superhero film with a super-hero
style tag that is astutely told on a big canvas.
Steven Spielberg directs Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks in The Post, a thrilling
drama about the unlikely partnership between The Washington Post’s Katharine
Graham (Streep), the first female publisher of a major American newspaper, and
editor Ben Bradlee (Hanks), as they race to catch up with The New York Times to
expose a massive cover-up of government secrets that spanned three decades and
four U.S. Presidents. The two must overcome their differences as they risk their
careers – and their very freedom – to help bring long-buried truths to light.
The Post marks the first time Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg have
collaborated on a project. In addition to directing, Spielberg produces along
with Amy Pascal and Kristie Macosko Krieger. The script was written by Liz
Hannah and Josh Singer, and the film features an acclaimed ensemble cast
including Alison Brie, Carrie Coon, David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Tracy Letts,
Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Paulson, Jesse Plemons, Matthew Rhys, Michael Stuhlbarg,
Bradley Whitford and Zach Woods.
