The Post is a 2017 drama directed by Stephen Spielberg. It features an ensemble cast, including Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Paulson, Alison Brie, Carrie Coon., Jesse Plemmons, and Matthey Rhys. At its core, The Post is a movie about the publication of The Pentagon Papers, which was a multi-volume retrospective on the Vietnam War that was put together during the Johnson and Nixon administrations. The papers were leaked by Daniel Ellsberg (played by Matthew Rhys, best known for his role in The Americans), who helped work on the documents and ultimately leaked them to the press after trying to get Congress to act on the information within them. The papers outlined the fact that all the past administrations, Democrat and Republican alike (From Eisenhower to Nixon), knew that the Vietnam War was not something the United States could ever win, and the government only stayed in it not to help South Vietnam or halt the spread of Communism, but to keep America from looking weak in losing a war. The release of the papers ultimately led to the public at large turning against the war, which eventually led to the war's end. It also told a larger story of how the Washington Post rose to prominence from a small, privately-owned local newspaper to a national newspaper that would ultimately do a lot to bring down what is now the second most corrupt Presidential administration in history.
The movie is directed by Steven Spielberg and is centered around the characters of Ben Bradlee (played by Tom Hanks), who was the paper's managing editor, and Kay Graham (played by Meryl Streep), who was the paper's publisher. Overall, it focuses on the events of how the Washington Post came into possession of the papers and the decision about whether to publish them after the Nixon administration sued the New York Times (which was the first paper to get ahold of some of the material in the papers) to stop publication of the documents. It was a tricky situation for the Washington Post, which was transitioning from being privately owned to being taken public, and the publication of the papers could spook potential investors and tank the public offering.
The story is an excellent historical drama, with some fictionalized elements blended in. It benefited from having many of the people involved in the events (including Ellsburg) who were still alive or the children and grandchildren of the actual people acting as consultants. So, it was able to stay historically accurate. It also blended in the audio from the Nixon tapes, which were released as a part of the Watergate investigation years later, of Nixon discussing the release of the papers with his cronies and displaying his hatred of the press. Specifically, the Washington Post. It is not an action movie, so if you are like some of the one-star reviewers complaining that it is boring, know what you are getting.
The 4k set is a two-disc set with a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The UHD disc has just the movie itself. On the regular Blu-ray disc, there are well over an hour's worth of making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes that range from 25 minutes in length to less than ten minutes. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is outstanding. Given that it is not a CGI-heavy action or sci-fi movie, you may not find it necessary to get it on 4k, but if you do, the film looks excellent, especially the location shots.
Overall, the movie was very well-written and acted. Despite idiots reviewing the film on Amazon saying it is just liberal propaganda, it is actually (aside from a couple of lines from the characters discussing political corruption, which were clear shots at the current political climate) a primarily accurate retelling of the historical events. While not everything in the movie was 100% historically accurate, which, given that it is not a documentary, is to be expected, much of what is in the film, including the text of the Supreme Court's decision about the role of the press in our democracy, is accurate. Of course, those events occurred before the modern-day hyper-partisanship in which fealty to a dear leader, regardless of who that leader is, trumps all, including corruption. And they happened at a time when freedom of the press and holding the government accountable was important not only to more than just some members of the government but all members of the media, the courts, and the populace as a whole. It was not a time when salivating, bootlicking toadies stood by the leaders of their party, no matter what. My guess is that many people complaining about the movie being "overly political", even though it made both Democrat and Republican administrations look bad (but yes, moreso Nixon's administration), are doing so because it puts a spotlight on what was happening in the orange genital wart's administration. But, given that the movie's events are absolutely true, it falls more into the category of "those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it" than it does a "political hit job" and is worth watching and learning something from.
The movie is directed by Steven Spielberg and is centered around the characters of Ben Bradlee (played by Tom Hanks), who was the paper's managing editor, and Kay Graham (played by Meryl Streep), who was the paper's publisher. Overall, it focuses on the events of how the Washington Post came into possession of the papers and the decision about whether to publish them after the Nixon administration sued the New York Times (which was the first paper to get ahold of some of the material in the papers) to stop publication of the documents. It was a tricky situation for the Washington Post, which was transitioning from being privately owned to being taken public, and the publication of the papers could spook potential investors and tank the public offering.
The story is an excellent historical drama, with some fictionalized elements blended in. It benefited from having many of the people involved in the events (including Ellsburg) who were still alive or the children and grandchildren of the actual people acting as consultants. So, it was able to stay historically accurate. It also blended in the audio from the Nixon tapes, which were released as a part of the Watergate investigation years later, of Nixon discussing the release of the papers with his cronies and displaying his hatred of the press. Specifically, the Washington Post. It is not an action movie, so if you are like some of the one-star reviewers complaining that it is boring, know what you are getting.
The 4k set is a two-disc set with a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The UHD disc has just the movie itself. On the regular Blu-ray disc, there are well over an hour's worth of making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes that range from 25 minutes in length to less than ten minutes. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is outstanding. Given that it is not a CGI-heavy action or sci-fi movie, you may not find it necessary to get it on 4k, but if you do, the film looks excellent, especially the location shots.
Overall, the movie was very well-written and acted. Despite idiots reviewing the film on Amazon saying it is just liberal propaganda, it is actually (aside from a couple of lines from the characters discussing political corruption, which were clear shots at the current political climate) a primarily accurate retelling of the historical events. While not everything in the movie was 100% historically accurate, which, given that it is not a documentary, is to be expected, much of what is in the film, including the text of the Supreme Court's decision about the role of the press in our democracy, is accurate. Of course, those events occurred before the modern-day hyper-partisanship in which fealty to a dear leader, regardless of who that leader is, trumps all, including corruption. And they happened at a time when freedom of the press and holding the government accountable was important not only to more than just some members of the government but all members of the media, the courts, and the populace as a whole. It was not a time when salivating, bootlicking toadies stood by the leaders of their party, no matter what. My guess is that many people complaining about the movie being "overly political", even though it made both Democrat and Republican administrations look bad (but yes, moreso Nixon's administration), are doing so because it puts a spotlight on what was happening in the orange genital wart's administration. But, given that the movie's events are absolutely true, it falls more into the category of "those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it" than it does a "political hit job" and is worth watching and learning something from.
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