The Post (2017)

This is specifically about the publication of information that was at the heart of the Pentagon Papers, the classified documents that were stolen and then published first by the New York Times, and then by a number of publications nationwide, including the Washington Post.
 The movie tells the story of the Pentagon Papers, choosing to focus on two key players in the unfolding battle between the free press and a White House that struggled to keep the secrets of how our government handled the Vietnam War under wraps.  The two central figures of this story are Kay Graham (Meryl Streep in a beautifully nuanced and decidedly unsexy performance.  She is breathtaking), the beleaguered publisher of the Post, doing a good job that too many men around her consider her incapable of doing, and Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks), the editor of the Post, and the man who never questions whether of not they should publish. The courts are used by the Nixon White House in an effort to shut down a press that is free and open.
Sound familiar?  The story is at once of a challenge to the free press in 1971 but also reflects on what is going on in 2017. As the President of the United States challenges different journalistic institutions, mostly through his Twitter feed, but also in speeches, and “truth” seems to have become a looser term than ever before, “The Post” is designed to be viewed as a commentary on today as much as yesterday, maybe even more. It’s fascinating to consider a film this well-constructed and packed with talented performers that would have played completely differently just two years ago.