The Post

★★★★

This films’ focus is on the American newspaper, The Washington Post and whether they will publish the Pentagon Papers, a report about the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War, and how the government knew they couldn’t win, but kept sending troops anyway.

This film is very subtly directed by Steven Spielberg and is an antidote to his big blockbuster films; he lets the acting do the talking and boy does this film have a lot to say. This isn’t the most exciting film and is ultimately about if the paper can meet a deadline, but it is the potential ramifications that add a lot of the tension and drama, that keeps you engrossed.

The first half of the film mainly focuses on Meryl Streep’s character Kay Graham, the Publisher of The Washington Post at the time and her trying to persuade a boardroom full of old men to put her newspaper on the stock market. I thought this was a really nuanced performance by Streep, she is a very vulnerable character not fully confident in her abilities, which was sadly expected as a woman in a high powered job in 70s sexist and chauvinist decade. She really does grapple with the choice of printing the Pentagon Papers as it could end the paper’s reputation, but more importantly ruin the livelihoods of her employees. Despite all the political scandal and juicy scoop, regular people’s jobs are in jeopardy if the paper goes bust.

Tom Hanks plays the editor of The Post, Ben Bradlee, who later was credited to Nixon’s demise by writing about the Watergate scandal. I thought Tom Hanks was phoning in his performance a little; it didn’t look like he was stretching that much. However, he is still as reliable as ever, as the fast-talking, toupee wearing wordsmith, out to save the day and stick it to the man word-by-word.

This is a decent film with thriller elements, even if it is based around trying to meet a deadline, a David and Goliath type movie (Richard Nixon is the ugly giant, obviously). Streep and Hanks deliver solid performances but not Oscar worthy, it is a surprise they haven’t been in a film together before this. Another satisfying piece of filming is a scene showing how papers got printed back then, where they painstakingly added each metal letter to the printing press, a really interesting watch.