The Post (2017)

As a Steven Spielberg fan, I could hardly have waited long to see a new pic of his with decent reviews, so I didn't hesitate to accept a Meetup invitation. At the same time, I approached with some trepidation, because it looked like the studio had poured in too much talent. Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep in the leads? Would there be any scenery left? There are a few other familiar names -- Bob Odenkirk, Bradley Whitford, David Cross -- but none of them stood a chance at standing out.

Something of a spiritual prequel to All the Presidents' Men, the story concerns events leading up to the first publication of segments of the Pentagon Papers. For maybe the first third, it's hard enough for The Washington Post to vie with The New York Times for breaking news. Then they choose a tougher opponent: the Nixon Administration, seeking to plug the leak of classified information by any means necessary.

It's worth noting that the details covered herein reflect almost as badly on JFK and LBJ as on Nixon. They all tried to sell a dishonestly optimistic take on the war. As for whether this movie was timed to tell us something about the current administration, as fellow Meetup members suggested, I'm not as sure as I once would have been, since the TV adaptation of The Handmaid's Tale was planned before the election.

I had considered it a shame that Streep's Katharine Graham didn't have nearly as much to say in the trailer as Hanks' Ben Bradlee. Now I understood that it's in character for her to say less. Having inherited the paper, she isn't exactly a born leader and often clams up even with notes in front of her. It doesn't help that when she does speak, men don't always listen, presumably in part for sexist reasons. You could say that the film's story is her story most of all: She stands the most to gain or lose from the publication gamble, and she shows the most growth as it progresses. Arguably the most magnificent moment comes when she finally puts her disrespectful employees in their place with a good impromptu speech.

From another standpoint, Bradlee is the hero of the tale. The executive editor is the one directing almost all the action at the company. More importantly, unlike Graham, he never doubts that publishing the Pentagon Papers is the right course. But he loses likability points by getting rather rude with his staff, and he needs other people to point out his hypocrisy and insensitivity toward Graham's situation. I know which one I favor.

I later asked senior Meetup members whether they could remember a time that The Washington Post came across as a little family newspaper, as the dialog repeatedly indicates. Hard for me to believe that that time was less than 50 years ago. They told me that newspapers in general seemed to have less national reach then. Of course, the way things are headed for the medium...

This is one of those movies that I could easily forget had Spielberg at the helm. It's far from bad, but it doesn't display obvious signatures of his. The closest it comes is in an opening fairly reminiscent of Saving Private Ryan with a Vietnam backdrop, followed by some interesting cinematography in a handful of scenes, departing from the common conversation depictions that dominate the rest.

While I rather like The Post, I'd be hard pressed to love it. It's not the next Bridge of Spies, and I doubt it'll gain any more Academy Awards. But by all means, see it.