The Post

Steven Spielberg has given us any magical movie moments over the course of his career. The first appearance of a Tyrannosaurus Rex as it breaks though a fence. Ancient vengeful spirits rising from the Ark of the Covenant. A boy and his extra terrestrial friend tearing across the sky on a BMX. A mountain sized space ship playing a five note tune to a crowd of awed onlookers. In The Post he gives us another as we watch a group of investigative journalists working against time, raking through thousands of pages, shouting at and over each other, and with a small child wandering amongst them selling them lemonade. It's a glorious few minutes getting to see inside the workings of a newspaper, the hive mind working together and fleshing out an article that will change US history. It's a lovely touch in the middle of his new film.

In the early 70's The Washington Post was a struggling newspaper that was big in Washington but only a tiddler nationwide. It was owned by heiress Katharine Graham and edited by Ben Bradlee. They both see a chance to compete with the big papers of the time when confidential government documents about the Vietnam war are leaked but the ramifications of printing these leaks are huge and will have an effect on both their livelihoods and United States law.

I enjoyed this. It's not perfect but it's a cracking way to spend a couple of hours in the cinema. It's a fine lesson about an important part of U.S. history that sometimes gets overlooked because it happened during the Vietnam war and pre-Watergate. And it's a relevant lesson. Very much so considering what's going on in Washington today. It's a film about freedom of expression. How important it is to be about to speak your mind and tell others your opinions. It's a two hour dig at the Trump administration and not a subtle one either. Loaded dialogue like "The President just took a shit on the first amendment" and 'The press was to serve the governed, not the governed" are blatant and blunt and needed. The current Nixon was a man not trusted by the public and Trump is even less so. One only hopes he can see the parallels if and when he watches the film himself.

Tom Hanks as Bradlee (who was played by Jason Robards in All The President's Men) and Meryl Street as Graham will probably get Oscar nominations for this but tbh they don't really deserve them. Not saying they are bad at all but this is bread and butter stuff to them, neither stretches themselves at all apart from one speech from Streep near the end. They work well together though, their characters compliment each other and I'm amazed that this is the first time I've seen them on screen together.

Spielberg is obviously a fan of prestige television going by the magnificent cast he has assembled here. Supporting Hanks and Streep is the cream of US TV. You'll spend the entire film going "Look it's herself from The Leftovers" or "Ha!! Saul Goodman". It's a mighty roster of talent but sadly very few of them get anything of substance to do. The wonderful Carrie Coon and Sarah Paulson and Michael Stuhlberg are utterly wasted. Bob Odenkirk gets a couple of choice scenes and probably does best out of the supporting cast. There are a lot of roles in the film so of course not everyone will get the limelight but here it just feels annoying.

It's a fine film though. It takes a story that had huge potential to be dull and turns it into something as tense and exciting as many a thriller. Political digs aside its also a relevant look at how women are treated in the workplace. When a person as powerful as Katharine Graham gets talked over during meetings you can only imagine how women lower on the rung got treated. It's great to see her character grow and take risks as the movie barrels forward (it moves like a racehorse btw). There's a lovely moment near the end of the film where she leaves a building and walks through a crowd that slowly turns into a sea of women all looking at her proudly that will give ya goosebumps.

It's well worth going to see, this is grown up Spielberg at his most enjoyable.