Spielberg chronicles riveting story for the Trump era

Graham was personal friends with Robert McNamara (Bruce Greenwood), Kennedy and Johnson’s defense secretary, who commissioned the classified report in the first place, and publishing them could embarrass her friend. As she walks down the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, protesters – many of them female – greet her. Under the First Amendment, which grants freedom of the press, it is the media’s duty to report what citizens have the right to know as opposed to what the government wants them to know, and The Post drove home this point in a meaningful way. The Post is a traditional drama in the best sense of the word.

Spielberg crafts another moment, nearly as effective. Meantime, newly widowed Kay Graham (Streep) finds herself in charge of the Washington Post and preparing for its IPO.

That’s the real meat of the movie and it happens in the first ten minutes. Probably not. Is the scene so obvious that the ghost of Frank Capra himself would call it corny? And Spielberg knows every trick in the book.

But historical irony, no matter how relevant, means little to movie-goers if a film isn’t well told and well executed.

Back in 1971, local D.C. newspaper The Washington Post was in a rivalry with The New York Times to get the best scoops about the Nixon administration and the Vietnam War. It remains to be seen in The Post, the newest movie that they both star in and that came out in late 2017. Having only gone before the cameras in May of this year, “The Post” vigorously exploits its current-events resonance, its rushed-to-the-screen raison d’être. Striding into boardrooms overflowing with men, Graham appears mousy and deferential to her ally and chairman of the board Fritz Beebe (Tracy Letts).

She gives you all the doubt, all the fear, all the life sorrow (her husband Phil had committed suicide years ago) and all the stodgy inanity of her privileged social milieu.

The Post never outright asks the question, “Why should news be profitable?” but it’s all over the film anyway. “There were no women reporters, it was very unusual”. Hanks plays Ben Bradlee, the famed executive editor of “The Washington Post” (immortalized by Jason Robards in the 1976 classic “All the President’s Men”).

The movie pits journalists against the government.

Taking on the controversial story of the Pentagon Papers is her debut, her coming out, her grand entrance into what is clearly a man’s world. As we watch its characters deal with the Nixon White House, it’s hard to ignore how we, too, are living under a crooked, insecure, emotionally unstable president who will trample the Constitution to keep himself in power. The papers didn’t represent one story, but a number of stories. But the most important element of the story is the side-by-side biographies it offers. It just landed on their lap, thousands of undigested pages, which they had to read.

One thing that most insiders, critics, pundits and casual movie fans can agree on, though, is that five-time victor and 50-time nominee John Williams will once again be in the mix come Oscar time for his latest sure to be majestic film score. If the intention was to send audiences out feeling inspired about journalism and its function in a republic, consider that mission accomplished.

For those who don’t, however, the film is instructional – right down to its quote from Justice Hugo Black’s opinion in the case, a statement, that like the rest of the film strongly resonates today. Streep’s performance is predictably sensational at capturing a woman full of self-doubt in a society still skeptical of women in positions of authority, and Spielberg employs all of his skills in shots that emphasize her insecurity: peering down at her over Bradlee’s shoulder in a way that pins her in a corner, or circling her at a party like she’s prey just ready to be eaten.