The Post
Year: 2017
Rating: PG-13
Length: 116 minutes / 1.93 hours
At this point, I just wonder if every movie Steven Spielberg makes that has anything to do with war (Schindler’s List (1994), Saving Private Ryan (1999), War Horse (2012), Lincoln (2013), Bridge of Spies (2015)) is just automatically given a Best Picture nomination. Don’t get me wrong, Spielberg has made a lot of quality movies that should be recognized and awarded. The question is more about the state of Hollywood films. Is there nothing else out there by up-and-coming filmmakers that would supplant a Spielberg film in the nominee list? Don’t even get me started on Meryl Streep’s nominations, either.
Of course, in part due to the all-star power of Spielberg, and the leading roles filled by Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, The Post (2017) is a movie that builds its tension right until the very end. Despite a somewhat slow start, the stakes are never higher when the ambiguity of publishing classified documents is taken all the way to its logical conclusion. The fact that the outcome isn’t a foregone one (even with the knowledge that these events happened in the past), is merely proof of Spielberg’s skill in connecting information to create a thrilling conclusion.
It can be difficult to separate the events in this film from the obvious political parallels to today’s society. From breaking through the patriarchy of business to holding the government accountable, much hasn’t changed in over 40 years. That being said, the journalistic integrity to bring the truth to the surface seems to be different now than when Nixon was in office, being used as a tool to bash an opposing viewpoint without necessarily having all the facts to back it up. At the very least, using the actual audio from the White House in the lead-up to the Watergate scandal was a nice touch.
A thrilling film with overtly political messages and themes, I give The Post 4.0 stars out of 5.
