That's the reason I never watched this film when I was a teenager. I tried, but sometime after the first hour I just lost interest.
Having actually watched it for the first time from start to finish I was very impressed with this film. The battles in this movie are fought with minds and words. A chess game in which two pawns begin their steady march towards the other side of the board, passing layer after layer of conspiracy.
This movie, most importantly, shows us that its not the end result, but how you get there that is important. I could not help, like other people, compare this movie to JFK as I watched it. Its clear that Stone wanted to make a movie like this one, but he missed the main point (as did Garrison). Even if you "know" what happened, you have to take the proper steps to prove it.
As Deep Throat said, you start at the edges and work your way in. The two journalists had a good idea from the start of what happened, it was how to prove in a honest and legal way that was the problem. And that was the journey they took us on.
This movie could be perceived as being boring by some, but the cause of that is not the movie, but ourselves. The villain is not confronted at the rooftop after a long chase, to have him deliver the grand explanation with a dramatic speech, only to have him jump off the rooftop as a final gesture.
It shows us how two men, with little power and no authority, helped topple a President. Its very appropriate that this movie came out in 1976, as it showed that the Constitution is a document that still provides for checks and balances in our government. This movie shows us the strength of our 1st Amendment. The government did not like what was happening, and put pressure to stop it, but at no point did you see police or army march into the Post to shut it down, something that would still happen this day in many countries around the world.
This movie reminds us that our right to pursue stories such as this one, the right to argue endlessly about politics on message boards, or even to post blogs about what you had for lunch, is one of the greatest strengths of this country. The media is not what it used to be 30 years ago, but it still has that potential.
Wonderful film to watch, think and discuss.
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