The Post

The present day seems like a time where sincere journalism needs to show some guts to bring out the truth. At a time where we are flooded by news channels and news papers that aren’t bold enough to take a stand against the irregularities of the state which covers its mistakes using patriotic sentiments, Steven Spielberg’s new movie The Post discusses about the guts of a bunch of journalists to move against the state to bring out the truth. Supported by fabulous performances, this gripping thriller is a compelling cinema.

At a time when The Washington Post was going through certain crucial decision making in the administrative part, The New York times published a report that sort of exposed the lies said by the governments about the progress and involvement of US army in Vietnam. The Washington Post who looked at it on a competitive level in the beginning got hold of the extremely classified information and The Post shows us how they managed to publish it at that complicated political scenario.

Great film makers can make any segment of a sensational story a gripping one. The Post is not driven by suspense. It is about something that already happened. But this film written by Liz Hannah and Josh Singer is focusing on the decision making part of journalism. Steven Spielberg skillfully makes it a political thriller with many layers of interesting conflicts. In a way the film is about the courageous decision of Kay Graham to take up the challenge when The Washington Post was facing financial issues along with people doubting her ability to lead the venture. Even after knowing what could have happened, you still get to feel the thrill because of the realness of this movie.

Meryl Streep is so good in depicting the inhibitions and fragileness of that newly sworn in Kay Graham. We could feel for the various conflicts she goes through. She needs to prove a point about her ability, there is an issue of maintaining friendship and then there is this ultimate burden of giving thumbs up to something that sensitive and Meryl Streep gets into the skin of that character perfectly. Tom Hanks as the slightly arrogant and highly competitive Ben Bradlee was also a great choice. Bob Odenkirk as Ben Bangdikian was impressive and the elaborate cast had people who made the narrative look very authentic.

Steven Spielberg has paced the movie according to the proceedings in the film. After the initial slow tempo the whole narrative shifts gears smoothly and gains a fast momentum. The office shots and some of the shots inside Bradlee’s home have the camera in the steady cam giving us that urgency feel. And in those decision making moments Janusz Kamiński’s frames are close and static. Screenplay simultaneously addresses multiple things that Kay Graham had to look at and that do help the film in creating cinematically exciting moments to its credit. Just before showing us that Watergate scene, Spielberg shows us the arrogant side of the only President of USA who resigned and that scene had a whole new meaning in the current political picture of that country. The cuts are fast and exciting. The background score gives the much needed boost to the gripping narrative.

The Post is an exciting political thriller which will keep you invested in it even if you know what happened in history (in case if you don’t know, search about it after watching the film). The ironical similarity of those days and these days makes The Post a little more politically relevant as it subtly urges media to do its job without fear.

Rating: 4/5