The Post
5 stars
Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson
Duration: 116 mins
Class: 12
KRS Releasing Ltd

Before the infamous Paradise Papers and Panama Papers filled newspaper columns and bytes the world over, came the Pentagon Papers; the leak of a top-secret report originally commissioned by US Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara in 1967 and entitled ‘History of US Decision-making in Vietnam, 1945-66’.

The document, all 7,000 pages of it, detailed a decades-long conspiracy to keep the truth about the Vietnam War from the American public. This was a war that continued to be fought year after year, even though the authorities knew it could never be won, with tens of thousands of lives lost in the process.

It was a leak that brought down the wrath of President Nixon’s White House onto The Washington Post’s publisher Katharine Grahame (Meryl Streep) and editor Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks), when they followed their bigger, more powerful rival The New York Times in exposing this cover-up. Ultimately, they were standing up for a free press against an increasingly dictatorial and paranoid president.        

The Post is timely too, in its celebration of the achievements of a woman in an all-male environment, as Katherine Grahame suddenly finds herself at the head of a newspaper after her husband’s suicide.

At the time, Grahame was steering the family company through the choppy waters of a Stock Exchange listing, but had to simultaneously oversee the crisis that could have well seen her editors, reporters and herself thrown in jail.

The Post is moviemaking of the old school, a rousing celebration of the freedom of the press and the men and women who fought tooth and nail for it.

 Spielberg’s filmmaking recreates the nostalgic world of print journalism with typical attention to detail with its clacking typewriters, its humongous printing presses and harried reporters. And there isn’t a cell phone or computer in sight.

His directorial flourishes add some visual delights to further illustrate the unfolding drama. There are reporters speaking furtively to sources on pay phones,  Grahame’s initial discomfort only highlighted by being often the only woman in the board or newsrooms. Then there’s the ominous, shadowy silhouette of President Nixon railing against the press.

Ultimately, they were standing up for a free press against an increasingly dictatorial and paranoid president

It is redundant to say that Streep becomes the living, breathing embodiment of this woman on the cusp of greatness. In a short space of time she goes from a soft-spoken, hesitant, self-effacing wife and mother, torn between Bradlee’s unquenchable pursuit of the truth and her board of (male) directors cajoling her to exercise caution, to the determined publisher of one of the hottest stories of 20th century American history and the head of a Fortune 500 company.

She becomes a feminist icon, as Spielberg unabashedly illustrates, in a scene where Grahame is leaving court and a sea of female well-wishers opens up to let her through.

Hanks is equally as effective as Bradlee, the actor effortlessly capturing the swagger and the attitude of a warrior. He is a protector of the religion of free speech and of the unalienable right to speak truth to power. There is much joy to behold in their relationship, from the admittedly slightly condescending way he initially treats Grahame – while always deferential to her – to the formidable team they become and in Streep and Hanks’ respective portrayals emerge as the heart and soul of a deep, lasting, platonic friendship.

The two heavyweight leads are given terrific support from a heady ensemble including Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts, Bradley Whitford, Bruce Greenwood, Alison Brie and Matthew Rhys as celebrated whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. 

Spielberg has admitted he rushed the film into production (he first read the script by first-time writer Liz Hannah in February 2017, and the production wrapped a mere 10 months later) because of the timeliness of its subject.

After all, 40-odd years after the events of the film, the American press is once more embroiled in a battle with its President.

And their colleagues the world over are fighting to get to the truth in a tsunami of fake news with journalists facing threats of indictments and prosecutions and much, much worse as we have learnt to our detriment in Malta.

It is an issue they have all clearly taken to heart, with Streep recently invited to address the Committee to Protect Journalists at their 2017 International Press Freedom Awards on November 15, where she, of course, also paid tribute to our very own Daphne Caruana Galizia.

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