Every year in my JMC 406 – Commentary and Blogging class I have my students watch a prominent journalism movie. Usually, All The President’s Men would be at the top of my list, but given that several students watched it while in Washington, DC after hearing Woodstein speak at a conference, I left that one off.
Here were their choices, along with my explanations:
The Post
The Post (2017) initially appears to be a movie about the Pentagon Papers case. But as one friend asked me, “Why is the Pentagon Papers movie about The Washington Post instead of The New York Times? Wasn’t it really their story?”
The answer is of course that the Pentagon Papers was first and foremost the Times’ story, though the Post had a big part to play. But that misses the point here.
The Post is really about Katherine Graham’s coming of age as one of the first woman publishers/CEOs of a major contemporary newspaper following the suicide death of her husband, who had been the publisher. Like all of the movies on this list, The Post deals not only with the heroic actions of journalists but also their flaws and shortcomings. Come to The Post for an exciting journalism thriller, stick around for a powerful story of Graham’s rise to become a major force in American journalism.
Spotlight
Spotlight (2015) is the Best Picture Oscar-winning film that chronicles the Pulitzer Prize winning reporting by the Boston Globe’s Spotlight investigative team diving into the Roman Catholic priest abuse scandal. It is in my mind one of Mark Ruffalo’s best performances, along with Rachel McAdams and Brian d’Arcy, portraying the Spotlight team. Liev Schreiber got a lot of attention for his spot-on portrayal of editor Marty Baron (who went on the be the Washington Post’s editor).
But for me, it is Michael Keaton’s performance as Spotlight team leader Walter “Robby” Robinson that makes the movie what it is. He is both heroic in his bravery in leading this team and reflective on his own failings with the story. This film is currently available on HBO.
The Year of Living Dangerously
The Year of Living Dangerously (1982) tells the fictional story of green Australian Broadcasting Corporation reporter Guy Hamilton (played by a very young Mel Gibson) showing up in Indonesia on the brink of a government coup.
Linda Hunt got the Oscar for best supporting actress for playing Billy Kwan, a Chinese-Australian man who is a long-time local photographer. It also stars Sigourney Weaver as a British Embassy attache who gets involved with Gibson’s character. It was directed by famed Australian filmmaker Peter Weir.
Like our other films, it deals with journalists behaving both heroically and very badly. It’s also a controversial film for having Hunt, a white woman, playing an Asian male dwarf, something that likely wouldn’t happen today. Nevertheless, Hunt’s portrayal of Kwan is brilliant, and Year of Living Dangerously tells a powerful story of how journalists can get too engaged with their stories and forget about how these stories will affect the people around them.
Absence of Malice
Absence of Malice (1981) tells the story of an over-eager prosecutor dropping a false story to reporter Megan Carter (Sally Field) about the son of a deceased gangster (Paul Newman) being a suspect in a murder case.
I don’t want to go deeper into the story to avoid spoilers, but it has numerous excellent performances including the Oscar-nominated Melinda Dillon who plays a friend of Newman’s and a stunning third-act supporting role by Wilford Brimley as a federal assistant attorney general.
This movie, like Year of Living Dangerously, has intensely flawed characters. It also has some badly dated tropes in it. But it is a powerful story of how our justice system and journalists can end up hurting innocent people. (And this was my students’ choice.)
All the President’s Men
Not on the list for my class this year, as I mentioned above, because several of my students just saw it. But give yourself a treat by watching The Post followed by All the President’s Men as a back-to-back double feature. Also, compare the giant neighborhood pull-back scene in Spotlight with the Library of Congress pull-back shot in President’s Men.