Movie Reviews - The Post

Director: Steven Spielberg
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 116 minutes
Year: 2017
Starring: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Bradley Whitford, Tracy Letts, Bruce Greenwood, Matthew Rhys, Alison Brie, Jesse Plemons, David Cross, Zach Woods, Pat Healy

Description: A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country's first female newspaper publisher (Meryl Streep) and a hard-driving editor (Tom Hanks) to join an unprecedented battle between the press and the government.

Review: It’s a sin to spoil the ending of a movie, unless it’s a film based on historic events. Because you already know the outcome (hopefully). In the last shot of “The Post”, there are hints to the Watergate affair. Due to two journalist of the Washington Post, this scandal came to light which eventually lead to Richard Nixon stepping away from his role as president of the US.
The paper already had a name and fame at that time. And how that happened, director Steven Spielberg shows us in “The Post”, where the journalists get their hand on the so-called Pentagon Papers. These classified documents are proof that the Vietnam war was always doomed to fail. And four presidents knew about it.
“The Post” is still relevant and a nod to Trump. But it also feels like a prequel to “All the President’s Men”, which was about the Watergate affair. But in “The Post” this isn’t as much focus on the case as there was in “All the President’s Men”.
We follow Kay Graham, the first female editor and trying to stay alive in a man’s world. And the fight that the Washington Post is constant battling agains the bigger paper, The New York Times.
When we see Hanks’ and Streep’s character together for the first time, we think that Hanks’ Ben Bradlee is superior to Streep’s Kay Graham. But in fact she is his boss. That was the role of a woman in business back then. People believe she is only boss because her husband died. Even during dinner, the women have to leave the table when the men talk business. Spielberg manages to picture this perfectly.
I wished there was a little bit more focus on the actual story they are trying to cover. Then this movie would have been even better. And I believe that if it wasn’t for Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, “The Post” would have been average.

Rating: 3,5 / 5