I’m still trying to catch up on the Oscar bait for award season and on Wednesday a took myself to see The Post, Steven Spielberg’s film about The Washington Post publishing the Pentagon Papers, a classified report detailing the history of the Vietnam war that the government knew to be unwinnable.
This is the story of the power of the free press against a President who is egotistical, vindictive and thin-skinned. There is a parallel between Nixon and the current administration. You can lose yourself in reading up on this alone but the best thing I’ve found to make some sense of this was Greg Proops on the Book Shambles podcast. Greg is obviously the smartest man in the world and his historical take is interesting.
So the president is waging war on the free press but the story is that of a woman owning and a running a company in a male business and her voice being ignored. Not disregarded but ignored. Kay Graham (Meryl Streep) was the publisher of The Washington Post and that should have brought her power and respect but the board makes it plain that she is an annoyance and only in the job because she inherited the paper. The editor, Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks), humours her but gives no weight to her opinion. She is irrelevant.
When the Pentagon Papers are first leaked The New York Times has the story and The Post is floundering. Once published the government issue an injunction to stop further stories. If The Post published what they now have they will be in contempt of court. Publishing the story is the right journalistic thing to do but it will bring the wrath of Nixon on the paper, scare investors, lead to prosecution and potentially, the loss of Kay’s fortune and jail for all involved. The decision rests with Kay.
I have never had to make a decision to publish top secret documents for the good of the citizens of my country but I have been Kay. Every working woman I know has. I have been the only woman in the room, ignored, looked over, mansplained to high heaven. Women in positions are power are asked to take notes, get coffee and listen to men explaining their experience to them. What I loved about this film was how Kay found her voice. While I wanted angry boardroom confrontation, a grandstanding speech about her passion, intelligence and how it was her bloody company, that did not happen. It wouldn’t. It is a process and when Kay finally finds that extra steel in her soul it is quiet, serious and powerful.
As usual, the film has sent me into research mode so I’ll be watching All The President’s Men at the weekend. The Post ends with the burglary at Watergate so it feels like a companion piece. Then I’ll hit the books.
Finally, I loved everything about this film. The art direction is brilliant, the cast is great. It is another ensemble piece that I love, it’s sharp, it’s succinct. I could rave for hours. My one sour note is Bradley Whitford as Arthur Parsons. Parsons is the most of vocal of Kay’s detractors and could do with a swift poke in the eye. Bradley Whitford has made a career out of these weasly, intelligent but self-serving cowardly gits and he does it brilliantly. But he was also Josh Lymon and I know Josh is better than this! Can someone give him a role where he gets to be bloody marvellous again?