The Post (Movie Review by Bob Racine)

1 hr & 55 min, color, 2017

Of all the discoveries I have made in the screening of this vital docudrama, and there are several, the one for which I am the most grateful is Katherine Graham.  She heretofore has been a total unknown to me, but thanks to the ingenuity of producer/director Steven Spielberg, the screen writing finesse of Liz Hannah and Josh Singer and the superlative acting prowess of Meryl Streep in the lead she is now and forever will remain visible to my mind, however long I go on living and breathing in this body.  Graham (now deceased) was the owner of the Washington Post in 1971 when the firestorm over the publication of what has come to be called the Pentagon Papers occurred.  The Post had been bequeathed to her upon the 1963 death of her husband Philip, who had built it up from a local feature into a nationally respected publication.

When Mrs. Graham took charge of it many thought that she was not qualified for the job and regarded her as a journalist beyond her depth, even though she had been in the newspaper business most of her adult life and the paper had been in the family even before that.  She was surrounded by many strong-minded men who played major roles in the decision-making process; they regarded her as essentially a figurehead.  She admits in the course of this drama that she has never thought of herself as having administrative capabilities on the scale that the position requires, never having dreamed that she would land in the job even upon the demise of her husband, whom she regards as a brilliant strategist. 

While meeting with bankers in one very crucial scene she seems a little cowed by the onus of responsibility that had always been regarded up to that time as a man’s calling.  But she comes of age in short order when her editor-in-chief Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) pushes for the printing of those classified, stolen government documents pertaining to the waging of the Vietnam War, known soon enough as the Pentagon Papers.  The documents had been smuggled into the possession of the New York Times by activist/journalist Daniel Ellsberg (Matthew Rhys).  Then later some quite furtive detective work on the part of the Post staff turns up the documents, and once in the Post’s possession as well the burden of deciding about their release to the public and risking prosecution falls squarely upon Graham’s shoulders.  How she wrestles through the dilemma and arrives at her choice and grows many feet taller in the process is worth the price of admission.  The movie belongs to and honors this woman as portrayed by Streep.    

The documents revealed upon close inspection that the heads of government, including five U.S. Presidents since the end of World War II, had been lying to the American people about the alleged need of halting the spread of Communism as a rationale for the U.S. involvement in the political and social affairs of Southeast Asia.  The myth of a Communist North Vietnam encroaching upon an innocent South Vietnam had been sold to the American people, when the fact of the matter was our imperial interest in gaining a foothold in that region.  We were the aggressors, not who we were being told was our enemy.

There is nothing about the content or style of this powerful factual thriller that I would fault.  Spielberg knew exactly what he was doing and he got the results I am sure he was looking for.  I am impressed by how Tom Hanks in the role of Bradlee seems quite willing to keep a little lower profile than ordinary.  He is fully visible and forceful, but he takes second place alongside Streep and shares the spotlight with other male figures such as Bob Odenkirk as Ben Bragdikian, the journalist responsible for obtaining of the Papers, and Bruce Greenwood as Robert MacNamara, Secretary of Defense under Kennedy and Johnson; this man played a significant role in the escalation of the Vietnam War and was a longtime friend of Graham’s.  (Good casting!  There is a striking resemblance between the two men!)

And how timely can a movie be?  In this present era of political turmoil, when the honesty and integrity of political leaders is being called into question almost daily, we need this reminder of how valuable the press is, of how journalism can lead the way into the disclosure of truth and Free Press rights can be vindicated with courage, discretion and thoroughness.

Newspapers!  Yes, they have taken a beating in many quarters with the improved sophistication of digital TV coverage and its instant delivery of the news.  Our illustrious President has reported that even the New York Times and the Post are fading out, an assertion that strikes me more as wishful thinking on his part than an informed opinion.  As a matter of fact neither paper is on the verge of demise; both have as solid and dependable a readership as they ever have had.  There is still something to be said for editorializing, for three-dimensional analysis of current trends, of controversial developments.  There is still something to be cherished about the pursuit of fine points that more routine reportage can easily, and in some cases necessarily, gloss over.  News vehicles are meant to educate not simply inform.  And I love what one Supreme Court Justice said in defense of the Pentagon Papers exposure: the right of a free press was granted by our nation’s founders because the press’s first loyalty is to the service of “the governed, not the governors”.  That is another gift I take away from my viewing of “The Post”.

And here is another:  Katherine Graham in the last scene quotes something her father, another newspaper tycoon, once declared, that “the news is the first rough draft of history”.  I have never thought of it that way, but it makes excellent sense.  History in the making!  History from the ground up!  The barest facts preserved for future specification! 

There is a disturbing aspect to what we learn here about the events of the early 1970s.  I shudder to contemplate whether a Supreme Court of today would give leave for a newspaper to print what has been classified material, however vital the upshot of it would be when shared with the public, even a public that has the right to know when it has been deceived by Congressional, Executive and Military leaders over many long years.  I trust that the people of this country would not be so easy to mislead if a major war was instigated by a power hungry chief executive, even if victory was assured from early on.  

The Iraq invasion, one for which there was no justification, never found any real support among the populace.  I trust that by now we have learned that when a major power conquers a smaller nation, that major power owns what it invades. Such was the counsel that Colin Powell gave to George W. Bush before the first shot was ever fired, counsel that apparently Bush never took to heart.  There is no easy hit and run about such an invasion.  By that move we helped further destabilize life in the Middle East.  That would have been the case, even if weapons of mass destruction had been discovered.  The American people have undergone a tremendous loss of innocence over the last six decades.  We have learned, and rightly so, to be cautious about anything our leaders tell us, about the official word.  Open minded and seekers of enlightenment we must be, but cautious!  The best antidote to nationalistic extremism!

The closing moments of “The Post” lead us right up to the door of Watergate.  It ends exactly where “All the President’s Men” (another quality work that champions journalism) begins, even though the latter was filmed forty-one years earlier.  High school Social Science teachers could use the two movies to great advantage by screening them for their students in chronological order.  Together they cover three vital years in the history of our nation.  I have disclosed before in this blog that I believe strongly in the intelligent and courageous use of the docudrama.  When a top grade one comes along you can be certain that I will write about it.  I do not imagine that you could do any better than these two. 

To read other entries in my blog, please consult its website:  enspiritus.blogspot.com.  To know about me, consult the autobiographical entry on the website for Dec. 5, 2016.