The Post

The Post (2017; dir. Steven Spielberg) dramatizes a particular moment in American history, and as such we need to be concerned with aspects of authenticity. Two particular elements in The Post, which otherwise I greatly enjoyed, have to do with the dye used to color the hair of some of the male actors and the simulated street demonstrations. The dyed hair looked flat and fake and called attention to itself. Take for example the hair of Robert McNamara. The street demonstrations simply seemed halfhearted and staged.

Meryl Streep as Katharine Graham and Tom Hanks as Ben Bradley give life to this film. They are both excellent in their roles. They're not merely reading lines. They’re bringing characters from history to life. We can't know whether these enactments of historical personages are accurate, but at least they are convincing. What little I know of Graham and Bradley makes me feel that the presentation of these characters in the film were on target.

There are three primary focuses in The Post. One is the publication of the Pentagon papers in 1971. Pilfered by Daniel Ellsberg from the RAND Institute files, he sent them to the New York Times and later to the Washington Post. When the Times started to report on them, the government “requested” that it cease publication. The Post got its copy of the papers, sorted through them, and began to summarize them in print. The second point of focus is the Washington Post itself, which in 1971 was not regarded as one of the nation’s leading newspapers. The film shows how the Post under the leadership of Graham decides to publish the Pentagon papers and to defend its right to publish in court, thereby confirming the importance of the First Amendment, and also gaining national and international attention for the paper. The third focus is Graham herself. She took over control of the Washington Post after her husband committed suicide. It's clear in the film that some members of the governing board don't think she is up to the task: they talk behind her back, they try to convince her of what she should do. She's also still willing to play her role as a Washington socialite, a friend of the McNamaras and other people in high political places. This film dramatizes how she gradually rises to her responsibility as a newspaper publisher by supporting the publication of the Pentagon papers even when the existence of her newspaper is threatened by banks that threaten to remove their financial support. The film takes a specifically feminist focus. At the end, after the Court has ruled 6-3 in favor of the Washington Post and the New York Times, she walks out of the Supreme Court building through a crowd of young women who are looking at her with admiring gazes. They will look up to her as a model for the future. This moment may be contrived and staged, but it's moving.

Bradley and Graham had been friends with political figures they reported on.  Bradlee and his wife were close to the Kennedys, and Graham has many friends in the Nixon administration.  In the film both come to realize that their duty as journalists is not to protect friends but rather to present the truth and serve the nation.