Newspaper Movie: The Post
As a newspaper obsessive, I’ve been compiling a list of films set in newspapers, you can find the others here. If you have a newspaper-related movie to recommend, that I’ve missed, please let me know.
The Post (2017)
Overall rating: 4.5 stars
Newsroom quotient: 5
Rolling presses vibe: 5
Newspaper featured: The Washington Post
Newsroom used for filming: film set
Running time: 116 minutes
In 1967, Robert McNamara, the US Secretary of Defense, formed the Vietnam Study Task Force to write an "encyclopedic history of the Vietnam War". This report, commonly known as ‘the Pentagon Papers’, detailed the systematic lying by US administrations to the American people, starting with Eisenhower, through JFK and Johnson to Nixon.
Set four-years later, The Post portrays the true story of The Washington Post publishing the Pentagon Papers. It shows that this became a difficult ethical question for the Publisher of the Post, Katharine Graham (Meryl Streep), as she was close friends with McNamara.
The film is directed by Steven Speilberg with Janusz Kamiński as Director of Photography. Kamiński, a six-time Academy Award nominee, between them they do an incredible job. The Post is worth watching for the cinematography alone.
The film starts with Daniel Ellsberg, played by Matthew Rhys, working as a contractor at the Rand Corporation photocopying sections of the papers. In March 1971, Ellsberg gave forty-three of the volumes to Neil Sheean at The New York Times. The Times published the first extracts on June 13th of that year. Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) frustrated that the Times has beaten the Post to what he sees as a Washington story charges his senior reporters with getting copies of the Pentagon papers.
After publishing the first three articles, the Nixon Administration takes out a federal court injunction against The New York Times, forcing them to cease publication. Bradlee sees his chance.
At the same time, The Washington Post Company is in the process of being listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Katherine Graham and the board are painfully aware that a major upset, such as a court injunction, could spook potential investors.
Ben Bagdikian, excellently played by John Odenkirk, used to work at the Rand Corporation and knows Daniel Ellsberg. He finally tracks Ellesberg to a motel room where he is hiding out with a copy of the report. He hands the remaining papers to Bagdikian on the promise that they're published regardless of the injunction.
Meryl Streep is excellent as Graham, as she tries to weigh-up the contradictory pressures of the future of the company and the integrity of journalism in speaking truth to power, personified by Ben Bradlee.
Watching The Post the first time, prompted me to read Katherine Graham's Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiography. I've seen the film again since, knowing some of the background made it more enjoyable.
Publishing the Pentagon Papers took The Washington Post from being a local to a national newspaper. The film ends with the reports of a break-in at the Watergate Building, the story that takes the Post from the national to international stage.
The Post movie poster
