Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Bruce Greenwood, Matthew Rhys
Rated PG-13, 116 minutes
“The Post” feels urgent. Made in just nine months (a blink of an eye for filmmakers), “The Post” is truly a response to Trumpism, not just a conveniently timed refutation of the president’s regressive tendencies (e.g., “Moonlight”). In rushing this project through production, Steven Spielberg only emphasized the significance of the story he felt the country needed to hear.
He wasn’t wrong to do so. The story of Katharine Graham’s (Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady”) controversial decision to report on the Pentagon Papers in the Washington Post, leading to a legal battle with President Nixon, reeks of familiarity now, given the attitude the current administration has taken toward unflattering press coverage. History repeats itself with alarming accuracy, Spielberg reminds us, urging his audience to stand its ground when it comes to defending the truth.
For a director whose uncommonly successful filmography has lately comprised a spate of projects that succumbed to the clichés of his own making (case in point: “Lincoln”), Spielberg is refreshingly even-handed in his treatment of such a weighty issue. Yes, he still booked every prestige actor under the sun; and yes, many of them recite historical quotes and Supreme Court decisions as though that were a thing that anyone in real life ever does; and yes, John Williams wrote the score. But Spielberg gives in to relatively few of his feast-your-eyes impulses, making the film feel important but not overblown.
Late in the film, one character says, “I always wanted to be part of a small rebellion,” and it feels like a mission statement for the entire movie. Because at this point in his career, Spielberg is the old guard; his movie is up for Best Picture at the Oscars against movies like “Get Out” and “Lady Bird,” movies that dare to prod viewers to the point of discomfort. “The Post,” meanwhile, is never dangerous, never challenging. Streep finishes off a climactic scene by saying “I’m going to bed” with the sly satisfaction of someone who can afford to put off her worrying until after she’s gotten her eight hours. If “The Post” is Spielberg’s declaration of solidarity with the resistance, it’s a declaration made from the sidelines.
There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that; a good movie is a good movie, whether it was made in a time of political turmoil or not. Streep puts her usual flourishes into a role that probably wasn’t written as well as she makes it seem; Tom Hanks (“Captain Phillips”), playing the Post’s illustrious editor Ben Bradlee, does enough Hanksian shouting to keep us on our toes; and among the enormous supporting cast, bright spots emerge in Bruce Greenwood (“Star Trek”), playing Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, and Matthew Rhys (TV’s “The Americans”), playing Daniel Ellsberg, the analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers. The script, Liz Hannah’s feature debut, is tightly paced, the visuals are sufficient but not flashy, and the music stays out of the way. If you ignore all the ingratiating references to “All the President’s Men,” this movie actually feels very close in temperament to George Clooney’s McCarthyism drama “Good Night, and Good Luck.”
And while “The Post” stays focused on Graham’s decision to publish the reports, a decision that ultimately made the paper a national name, the script occasionally delves into the matter of Graham’s personal friendship with McNamara. In these scenes the film takes its most radical stance, humanizing the people responsible for calamitous political subterfuge, though not in any attempt to establish moral equivalence or to give the benefit of the doubt to the “very fine people” on both sides. Rather, the film teaches us the all-important lesson of how to hold our friends accountable for the injustices they take part in without sacrificing those friendships.
It’s this sort of level-headed, moderate response to Trumpism that has seemingly been lacking in entertainment since the president took office. So while “The Post” isn’t as revelatory as “Get Out” or as anguished as “Lady Bird” or as gritty as “Wind River,” it’s the best protest movie we could have expected from a 40-year Hollywood veteran like Spielberg. He may not be right there in the thick of the marches, but with “The Post,” he’s made a commitment in good faith to do what he can to protect those who are.
Originally published in The Harvard Press on 2/9/18.