The Post Movie Review

The Post (2017)

Buy The Post on Amazon Video
Written by: Liz Hannah, Josh Singer
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Bradley Whitford, Bruce Greenwood, Matthew Rhys, Alison Brie, Carrie Coon, Jesse Plemons, David Cross, Zach Woods
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer

Plot
A cover-up that spanned four US Presidents pushed the country's first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join a unprecedented battle between the press and the government.

Verdict
A topical subject about the president silencing the press, but it just feels like a put on that screams Oscar bait. It's a neat story and certainly a well made movie that's a nice history lesson though less than accurate, but it doesn't take any risks or try to do anything different. It's cookie cutter, giving a few too many moments to the leads actors for their Oscar submittal clip.
It depends.

Review
The New York Times was portrayed as playing a minor role in the movie, and while they not only published the Pentagon Papers before The Washington Post, they set the stage for the major legal battle between the press and the United States government. The Times also won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for its contributions.

This starts in Vietnam with a reporter stationed there. A lie from the Secretary of Defense that everything is good and progress is being made irks him. He steals documents and discovers the U.S. has been meddling in Vietnam for decades.

Meryl Streep as Kay Graham.

It's a nice story with Streep as Kay Graham. She's taken over as owner/publisher from her husband. The movie reinforces she's a woman in a mans' world. She's afraid to speak up and when she does she's talked over, her words drowned out. When a man reiterates her same ideas people listen. The odds are always stacked against her.

It's a well made movie, a period piece with great production values and a cavalcade of well known actors in the cast.

President Nixon attempts to silence newspapers reporting on the classified documents. The movie has shown him as vengeful with a big implication that a President who bans or restricts the press has something to hide. Graham is running a smaller newspaper. Running the story on the leaked documents could legitimatize the family paper or end up destroying it. Her editor played by Tom Hanks wants to run the story because that's what journalists do, report the truth.

Tom Hanks as Ben Bradlee.

It's not a bad movie, it's just shallow. It's a newspaper movie that touches upon pertinent topics like sexism and a president against the press, but if feels like little more than a platform for Oscar awards. This reminds me of Spotlight (read my review), another newspaper based movie. Spotlight focused on a smaller story and its human components. Newspapers are dying, but the story proved their value. The Post is too abstract, telling us why newspapers are important without showing us.