THE POST : Tuesday 30th January 2018.

I caught the much praised historical political thriller 'THE POST' earlier this week as Directed and Co-Produced by Steven Spielberg. This film tells the story of The Washington Post newspaper and how, together with The New York Times, exposed the Pentagon Papers in 1971. Officially titled 'United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense', this serves as a United States Department of Defence history of the United States' political-military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. The papers were released by a former Pentagon staffer, who had worked on the study which were first brought to the attention of the public on the front page of The New York Times in 1971, and immediately thereafter by The Washington Post. The film saw its Premier and limited release in the US just before Christmas, and went on wide release in the US and Australia in mid-January. Costing US$50M to make, the film has so far recovered US$86M and has picked up in total so far twelve award wins and another 79 nominations including two yet to be announced Academy Award nods for Best Film and Best Lead Actress.

The film opens up in 1966, in Vietnam, as a platoon of American Troops set off for the jungle, accompanied by military analyst Daniel Ellsberg (Matthew Rhys) who is there to observe and document the progress (or not) of the American military activities in the region for his boss, Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara (Bruce Greenwood). En route back to the US after a tour of reporting duty, McNamara states to President Lyndon Johnson and Ellsberg that the War in Vietnam is a lost cause, that no progress is being made and that their efforts are near hopeless. Upon landing however, McNamara expresses to the gathered throng of reporters a completely different story citing that they have seen very positive strides forward, and that he is encouraged by the progress being made.

Fast forward some years, Ellsberg now works for a private military contractor, and he takes it upon himself to begin photocopying the entire 7,000 page Top Secret and highly Classified Report that documents in every detail the progress, or lack of it, of the Vietnam War, dating back to President Truman's time. Once copied he distributes these documents to The New York Times, spelling out clearly over two decades worth of under the radar, confidential activities and brutally truthful admissions of just how poorly the war had been going for the Americans. Meanwhile Katherine Graham (Meryl Streep) as the owner and publisher of The Washington Post is seen to be busy juggling her social calendar with preparations for an imminent float of her company on the Wall Street Stock Exchange, whilst keeping a watchful eye on her newspapers content, dwindling readership and the fact that it is still seen as a small local newspaper. Plus, the fact that she is very much a woman all alone in a mans world, and lacks the confidence in herself and her abilities as a result of being looked down upon and frequently overruled for many years by her more assertive advisors and Board Members.

Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) is her Editor-in-Chief, and while struggling to find any real newsworthy stories to cover, notes that the top investigative reporter over at The New York Times, Ed Sheehan, has been uncharacteristically quiet for sometime. Bradley surmises that he must be working on something big, and so sends an intern over to the offices of The Times to conduct some undercover investigating. In the meantime, McNamara who is also a long time friend of Katherine Graham and a trusted advisor confides in her that in tomorrows New York Times there will be published a very unflattering exposé into the US Government's long running lies and deceit to the American public into the affairs surrounding the Vietnam War. After a number of days of sensational reporting by The Times blowing the lid off the whole long running sordid, sorry and mismanaged affair, the series is halted in its tracks by a Court Injunction banning any further publications of such stories.

At the same time, a shoe box wrapped in plain brown paper and tied with string winds up on the desk of a Post staffer. Curious he unwraps the box and inside finds a sample of the leaked documents and takes these around to Bradlee's office all post haste. The Post's Assistant Editor and former associate of Ellsberg, Ben Bagdikian (Bob Odenkirk) believes that Ellsberg is the sources of the leaked documents so begins tracking down his old friend who has gone under deep cover for fear of being hunted down and persecuted by the Government for crimes against the state and treason. However, he is able to track down Ellsberg, who provides him with copies of the same material that he provided to The New York Times.

Back at the Bradlee household, a small team of his reporters convene to sift through 4,000 or so jumbled up pages that Bagdikian sourced from Ellsberg in two archive boxes. While trying to piece together the disorganised and random pages to make a bigger picture story, the Post's legal team have been made aware and advise Bradlee against publishing, for fear that Nixon's administration will bring the full force of the Government down upon them and file criminal charges, which could shut down the newspaper and throw Graham, Bradlee, the Board and the Reporters in jail.

With the clock ticking on their print deadline to make the next morning's newsstands, Graham deliberates long and hard on whether to publish or not. She seeks the counsel of the men around her, including McNamara, Bradlee and various Board Members. All of those except Bradlee coach Graham not to publish for fear that the legal and political fall out would ruin the newspaper and destroy her deep rooted family legacy. On the flip side, if she stands her ground and successfully defends any legal proceedings, she could propel The Post into the realms of a relevant and important news publication on the national stage. She opts for the latter and decides to publish, while The Times remains inactive under its Court Injunction.

The day of publication the White House sends an opening salvo by summonsing both The Post and The Times together before the Supreme Court to plead their First Amendment right for the freedom to publish the leaked documents. Meanwhile, all around the country, other local and State news publications have picked up the story too, made it their front page headlines and come out in support of The Post and The Times. The court determines in favour of both newspapers so validating Graham's decision to publish. Bradlee and the entire office team gather around a small screen to hear the outcome of the determination. In closing President Nixon is seen talking on the telephone banning any representative from The Washington Post ever stepping foot inside the White House again, or attending any Presidential or Governmental event whether at the White House or elsewhere. The final scene, sees a night-time Security Guard interrupting a break-in in progress at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters housed in the Watergate Office complex. The rest as they say, is history!

The film also stars Tracy Letts as Fritz Beebe (Chairman of the Board at The Washington Post); Bradley Whitford as Arthur Parsons (Board Member), Alison Brie as Lally Graham (Katherine's daughter), Sarah Paulson as Antoinette Bradlee (Ben's wife) and Jesse Plemmons as Roger Clark (Legal Counsel to The Post).

This is the first time that Hollywood heavyweights Hanks, Streep and Spielberg have worked together on a film, and judging by the quality of this offering, hopefully it won't be the last. Of course Hanks and Spielberg have plenty of history together, most recently on 'Bridge of Spies' and before that on 'Terminal', 'Catch Me If You Can' and 'Saving Private Ryan'. The quality of the performances from the principle cast, most notably Hanks, Streep and Odenkirk is top notch as you would expect, as is the quality of filmmaking also first rate with Spielberg's deft touch at capturing the real sense of urgency, the power struggle, and the relevance with the political machinations between then and now - albeit with a smattering of poetic license along the way! For equally compelling viewing of this same story you can check out 'The Pentagon Papers' from 2003 - a historical television film about Daniel Ellsberg (portrayed by James Spader here) and the events leading up to the publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1971, or 'The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers' - a 2009 documentary film based on the same course of events. This is a good solid film, up there with other investigative journalism films including 2014 'Kill The Messenger', but lacking the greatness of 'All The President's Men' from 1976, 'The Killing Fields' from 1984, and more recently 'Spotlight' from 2015 to name but a few investigative journalism offerings.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-