“If the government wins, The Washington Post will cease to exist.” (Fritz Beebe)
“If we don’t hold them accountable, who will?” (Ben Bradlee)
“We can’t hold them accountable if we don’t have a newspaper.” (Kay Graham)
These are three lines from the latest film, The Post, that is bringing audiences to the theater and earning nominations for both Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks for their exceptional performances in Steven Spielberg’s film. Those three lines are also the heart of what the newspaper industry and journalism is all about.
To Tell the truth for the governed and not the government.
The film does a good job at carefully displaying what went on throughout the time of the Vietnam war and how reporters dug a little too deep and nearly put the role of all journalists in jeopardy when one took home top secret documents from the Pentagon in order have the ultimate scoop on the US President.
It is also a story about the first woman to own her own newspaper in a time when women didn’t talk about those things. Meryl Streep, exceptionally shows the difficulties that the “real life” Kay Graham most notably had to face, both as being a legacy of her father and husband, who fit the role of publisher for The Washington Post, and as proving herself after taking over the paper as someone capable of making the tough decisions — to post or not to post.
Verdict: 5 out of 5
Overall, when looking at all the previous journalism movies going all the way back to the most notable one with Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, All The Presidents Men as well as the latest Spotlight starring Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton and Rachel McAdams, I would have to say that The Post most definitely measures up to the same standards as its predecessors and I would give it 5 out of five stars for exceptional acting, accurate storytelling and great cinematography. It is my hope that when the Oscar nominations are released that it should at least get a couple of nominations if not wins, but only time will tell.
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