The Post

The latest Steven Spielberg film "The Post" is a nice showcase of the real life 1970's battle between government and journalist which would go to the highest court in the land(The U.S. Supreme Court). The film shows how information is uncovered and leaked about the highly criticized "Vietnam War". All of us want freedom of speech and freedom of press, and us as people expect the news media to give it to us and when documents are uncovered by people in the press which exposes cover up and lies from many previous presidents, you feel relieved and mad also. And with this picture it shows the process of how to investigate and publish hard hitting truth even if it means to challenge the powers that be. That's what "The Washington Post" did as the owner a powerful woman in Kay Graham(a wonderful Meryl Streep)put it all on the line with the help of a powerful and well know editor in Ben Bradlee(the good Tom Hanks). As anything worth exposing and challenging is worth a fight for as it makes the powerful upset and angry. Overall this picture is a must watch for political history buffs also as it shows how the ever on going war between media and government began and how it became a political dogfight for each and all involved. Proving that accountability is needed for all.

I'd bet dollars to a whole bunch of doughnuts that not many people watching this film today are aware that the history of the Vietnam War precedes the presidency of Richard Nixon by four prior administrations, dating all the way back to Harry Truman. Nixon gets most of the blame of course, for the country's failure in Vietnam, somewhat undeservedly, whereas he does shoulder all of it for the break-in at the Watergate Hotel. Perhaps the title of this picture might better have been 'The Pentagon Papers', with the Washington Post playing it's role, but it was Katherine Graham's newspaper, and as portrayed by Meryl Streep, Graham's stewardship required the requisite amount of diplomacy and resolve. I thought her confrontation with Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) over his relationship with the Kennedys while JFK was in office was quite remarkable, knowing that as President, he did get a pass on all of his extracurricular activities. What this film probably does best is bring us back to a time in the country when there was such a thing as investigative journalism. Sources were double and triple checked before stories made it into print, while today all it takes sometimes, is a tweet, to send reporters into a frenzy. Personally, when the Pentagon Papers story broke, I was somewhat conflicted and on the fence whether or not a newspaper ought to print stories based on classified government data. In retrospect, the country's national security posture was not harmed, and as an informed public, we're better off knowing what our leaders are up to, especially when decisions to send soldiers into harm's way are concerned.

Wow, who knew you could magnify such banal events into an Earth shattering triumph of timely cinematic achievement. For a story that could have been boiled down to 10 minutes, Spielberg sure managed to stretch out those little insignificant moments between characters to the point that you'd swear they were constantly on the verge of inter-dimensional travel. Let me see if I got this right: Stolen classified government documents were spirited away and given to the Washington Post who planned on publishing them. Protracted legal battling and repeated noblesque cries of "freedom-of-the press" ensues. OK... I agree the Vietnam war was bogus and sure, it's a lovely idea that government would be transparent. And certainly, people should just be able to steal classified government documents any time they want and publish the contents. But what the children of America don't seem to understand is, the masses are better off not knowing certain things. As for the Washington Post... wow, what happened?!?!?!

The Post is Political Hollywood at its propaganda best. They're all there, the Press, Streep, Spielberg, the Academy, all shouting about the good deeds done by the press in the past (they virtually had to go back decades to Watergate and rehash a new take on 'All the Presidents Men'!) In the present climate, it could hardly be a more obvious attempt to squash the fact that the modern press has become a 'Fake' sham (and that President Trump remains fair game). Time to get over it - stop attempting to convince the voters that a possible corrupt system should be back in power - simply because it serves others selfish purposes. It's also a big push for the Washington Post, who only picked up on the groundbreaking hard work (already done ahead of them) by the New York Times. With the Post even using the same N.Y.T. informants leaked files. The Awards given for this rather ordinary movie need explaining - Streep was simply Streep, Hanks has done far better work (without honours) beforehand. Spielberg was in his usual by-the-numbers mode and turned in an overlong (often boring movie) consisting of a string of round table talkfests (ie; sometimes small table, other times a larger table or a typical party scene) nothing special here. In fact, it all looks too obviously like an attempt to fool some of the people all of the time. Maybe it's time to move on and consider working together for the betterment of all..... As James Goodale said on PBS News Hour during a summary of the movie:- with words along the lines of; "If doing a movie now (about newspapers) you want to be sure you're being authentic". Very good advice! Another insightful comment came from; Matt Bobkin, writing for Exclaim!, he gave the film a 6 out of 10 score, and went on to say; the film "has all the makings of an awards season hit, but is too calculated to reflect today's ragged, tenuous socio-political climate." Touché Matt..