Good cinema draws people in droves specially from those acclaimed makers like ‘Steven Spielberg’ who gave us those gut-wrenching yet uplifting WW II docudramas of heroism and valour – ‘Schindler’s List’, ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and ‘Bridge of Spies’, a genre away from his forte for incredible sci-fi films and my all-time favourite on the triumph of humanism – ‘The Terminal’ !
In a slight departure, he comes up with a gripping political thriller that is inspired by the famous ‘Pentagon Papers’ saga of the long US-Vietnam war, it’s futility and untold sacrifice of innocent soldiers and citizens made at the altar of many diplomatic subterfuges and political ends of those in power ! What’s most interesting is the timeliness of the depiction of the need of independent press and its freedom to unearth the lies and rot in an un-transparent system, a subject that now rages in nations all over the world.
The film has all the ingredients of the ‘Spielberg’ class in creating the period-drama when courage, conviction and undeterred search for truth were the watchwords for journalism, news reporting and publishing. Added value for movie-buffs comes from stellar performances of a star-studded cast led by the incredible actress ‘Meryl Streep’ and ‘Spielberg’s’ favourite ‘Tom Hanks’, that superb actor of many of his classics !
There are many memorable lines in the film but not the least the last few : ‘..The press has to serve the governed, and not the governors !’ And ‘..Newspapers are the rough draft of history’ !
While there is a definite shift in our films towards meaningful cinema and relevant issues, when was the last time a great movie was made on the freedom of the press, possibly one comes to mind is ‘New Delhi Times’ with the late Shashi Kapoor, many years ago. Our superstars, bogged down with own fanciful images and outrageous titles like ‘King Khan’ and ‘Badshah’ can take a leaf out of the range of roles done by Tom Hanks over the years !
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