Truth
Directed by: James Vanderbilt
Written by: James Vanderbilt - Based on the book "Truth and Duty: The Press, The President, and The Privilege of Power" by Mary Mapes
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford, Topher Grace, Elisabeth Moss, Dennis Quaid, Bruce Greenwood, Stacy Keach, John Benjamin Hickey, Dermont Mulroney, David Lyons, Rachael Blake, Andrew McFarlane, Natalie Saleeba, Noni Hazlehurst, Connor Burke, Philip Quast
Biography/Drama - 121 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 21 Oct 2015
Written by: James Vanderbilt - Based on the book "Truth and Duty: The Press, The President, and The Privilege of Power" by Mary Mapes
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford, Topher Grace, Elisabeth Moss, Dennis Quaid, Bruce Greenwood, Stacy Keach, John Benjamin Hickey, Dermont Mulroney, David Lyons, Rachael Blake, Andrew McFarlane, Natalie Saleeba, Noni Hazlehurst, Connor Burke, Philip Quast
Biography/Drama - 121 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 21 Oct 2015
Those in the know say investigative journalism has changed in the 21st century. It goes deeper than where folks opt to get their news. Not so long ago, America listened to Walter Cronkite and read newspapers. Now, there are whole television channels skewed to fit whatever filter we choose to view the world through. People frequently cite a variant of the maxim you are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts. Modern day journalists may disagree with that. Truth reveals the story behind the 2004 Dan Rather / 60 Minutes / CBS scandal prematurely terminating Rather’s tenure behind the anchor desk, Cronkite’s successor. One’s belief in the case’s facts appears to depend on the political party you most identify with. This unsettling reality was not the case during Watergate, but 1974 lacked the Internet and the hordes of vehement basic cable pundits ready to rip to shreds any upstart who dares to ask uncomfortable questions.
Mary Mapes (Cate Blanchett, 2014’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies) broke the Abu Ghraib story of systemic torture inflicted upon Iraqi detainees by a gang of Army guards and interrogators. She won a Peabody for her efforts to expose the truth. Not too long after this scoop, Mapes got hold of information that President George W. Bush may have been AWOL during his brief tenure with the Texas Air National Guard in the early ‘70s. This was all amidst Bush’s tense 2004 re-election campaign against John Kerry and the omnipresent swift boat attack ads against him. Ever since Bush 43 entered politics, there has always been gossip and innuendo about how his famous and connected father got him into the National Guard in the first place while those without connections continued to get shipped off to Vietnam. Truth is not about Bush’s entrance into the Guard and Truth is not about Bush, it’s about the rollercoaster events of tracking down information, verifying its veracity, and the inevitable blowback.
Mary Mapes (Cate Blanchett, 2014’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies) broke the Abu Ghraib story of systemic torture inflicted upon Iraqi detainees by a gang of Army guards and interrogators. She won a Peabody for her efforts to expose the truth. Not too long after this scoop, Mapes got hold of information that President George W. Bush may have been AWOL during his brief tenure with the Texas Air National Guard in the early ‘70s. This was all amidst Bush’s tense 2004 re-election campaign against John Kerry and the omnipresent swift boat attack ads against him. Ever since Bush 43 entered politics, there has always been gossip and innuendo about how his famous and connected father got him into the National Guard in the first place while those without connections continued to get shipped off to Vietnam. Truth is not about Bush’s entrance into the Guard and Truth is not about Bush, it’s about the rollercoaster events of tracking down information, verifying its veracity, and the inevitable blowback.
The backlash did not attack the facts, whether or not what particular memos implied or directly said was true. The President’s defenders attacked fonts, line justification, and superscripts; they struck out at grammar and syntax, not content. Where was George W. Bush in 1972? Who cares? We have the capabilities of Microsoft Word versus manual typewriters to screech about. Eerie parallels to a certain Congressional select committee on Benghazi pop up. What happened that night in 2012 when four U.S. citizens were murdered including the ambassador? It feels like another ‘Who cares’ moment because the opposition and their news media would rather discuss e-mails and private servers.
First time feature film director James Vanderbilt is a journalism nut. He cites All the President’s Men (1976), where Robert Redford played Bob Woodward, as early inspiration. Now, Redford stars in Vanderbilt’s film as Dan Rather. Vanderbilt already has a credit integrating journalism into film as he wrote and co-produced Zodiac (2007), a procedural charting the San Francisco Chronicle’s search for the Zodiac serial killer. Vanderbilt wrote Truth after reading a Vanity Fair excerpt of Mape’s memoir about the debacle, Truth and Duty: The Press, The President, and the Privilege of Power. The response to the film shows the controversy and bad feelings are not distant memory yet.
CBS refuses to air any ads promoting Truth and goes so far as to call the film “a disservice” to both journalists and the public. CBS is owned by Viacom. Viacom gets hammered in a particularly damning speech by researcher Mike Smith (Topher Grace, 2015’s American Ultra) many people are going to remember long after the credits roll. I am not sure this is the wisest move by CBS. People love a good controversy and this scathing attack stirred up a hornet’s nest. CBS (Viacom’s) attempt to throw shade on the film may just help Sony Pictures Classics move some more box office business.
While Truth charts Mapes and Rather the closest as they chase the story and then attempt to defend their work, the movie is really an ensemble effort. Blanchett is the star through and through, but there are powerful performances from Grace, Dennis Quaid, and Elisabeth Moss comprising the rest of the investigative research team. Redford’s Rather strikes a noticeable father-daughter relationship with Blanchett’s Mapes. Vanderbilt weaves in a sub-plot hinting at extensive physical abuse Mapes endured as a child from her father. Dan Rather is a father figure she learned to trust, rely on, and work hard for.
Mapes claims the worst beatings she received were for asking questions and Vanderbilt brilliantly builds up a few scenes where Mapes lashes out at being figuratively slapped for daring to ask questions about a recognized authority figure. While these events from the 2004 presidential election comprise a mere footnote in Bush’s biography, Vanderbilt reveals the cuts remain fresh for not only the individuals involved, but for a giant television network company and the global multi-national behemoth behind it. That is why a vibrant and effective democracy requires in-depth investigative journalism and the folks asking the tough questions. Democracy only works on a foundation of openness and truth.
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