The Post. Relevant, but boring.

 

Yes. The 2017 movie. Directed by 'Sir' Steven Spielberg. Starring 'Sir' Tom Hanks, and that lady who has all the oscar nominations. I finally got around to watching it. Been very busy lately. And finally got a good print. This movie was tipped to win at least a few oscars. Ended up winning none.

I could see why it did not win the best picture or director awards. But I could not see why it did not win anything at all.

This has to be the most...hmm...boring Spielberg movie I have watched. No offense, but it is not the kind of subject matter young movie goers would want to watch nowadays. But it discussed a very relevant topic, that of the freedom of the press. That of accountability of the government to the people. This is a serious topic which will be discussed for generations yet to come.

Inspite of being boring, I loved it. It has the Spielberg stamp everywhere, in the direction, photography, the way people react, even lense flares. Yes, there is a scene when a kid runs across the street and there is a lense flare in the pan. There are some nice dialogues, and good charachters . Hanks again plays a nice guy,that guy can NEVER play a baddie. There is tension in the scenes, short war scene in the beginning was unexpected. And has great music. And since its a speilberg movie, you know that it will have a happy ending. The press wins, and there is a moment of triumph, highlighted by John Williams music. "The press was to serve the governed. Not the governors". That scene.

But the thing that kept bothering me the whole time was that, I felt they chose to tell the wrong story. It was not the Washington Post, but the New York Times which broke the story of the Pentagon papers. I really really really wanted to know how they did it. How did they research the material for over 3 months, and ultimately took the decision to publish it. Who where those charachters, what all did they stand to gain from it. How did the , allegedly, 'Failing New York Times' discuss their options and take the risk of going against their Federal government. And how did they react when a case was filed against them.

And , who the hell delivered that shoe box of copies to the post ? Was it somebody from NYT ?

But instead, we see a story of another press trying to keep up in the competition. And then alloting a lot of time to discuss the legal repercussions of what they are about to do. Not bad, but there is hardly anything happening there. At some point this movie was more about lawyers than about reporters. And the whole dull lighting and grey-color palette was off.

Today the media has a more active and faster role in spreading information, people no longer wait for their morning newspapers. They get it fresh off the internet, often spreading it via posts and likes. In the past few years there have been numerous instance of media barons NOT doing their jobs, or simply overdoing them. Spreading news without indpendently verifying them. The media back home in my my country are notorious for over dramatizing events and discussing non-relevant topics just for the airtime. So watching the story of people responsible in The Post thinking ten times before publishing underscores the roles reporters play in modern democracy. Yes, they have the freedom. But then they also have the responsibilty of reporting it neutrally, without taking any sides.

So do watch how they did it at the Post.