By Julia Balli, Copy Editor
The Post, directed by Steven Spielberg, begins in Vietnam during the late 1960s at the center of the Vietnam War. Daniel Ellsberg (Matthew Rhys), an American military analyst, is appalled to find that the U.S. government has been lying about the progress of the Vietnam War to the American people. Ellsberg decides to take matters into his own hands and steals as well as copies hundred of documents containing confidential information about the Vietnam War that would expose the lies the U.S. government had been hiding for decades.
Flash forward to 1971, The New York Times publishes a story containing excerpts of the confidential papers and exposing the government’s deception. The New York Times is sued by then President Richard Nixon over the story. Nixon further tries to limit The New York Times by disabling them to publish anything more on the topic to the public. This is what pushed the country’s first female newspaper publisher, Kay Graham (Meryl Streep), and a hard-working editor for The Washington Post, Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks), to fight a revolutionary battle for the public’s right to know and the freedom of press, putting their careers and their own freedom at risk. They publish the story and end up winning the case that went to the Supreme Court against Nixon.
I’ve wanted to be a journalist for some time, and this movie encouraged me to go into the field even more. The Post displayed the hardships of being a journalist and the guts you must have to give news to the people. Streep and Hanks’ performances were absolutely phenomenal and The Post would not be as good had it not been for their outstanding portrayal of the characters.
I was thoroughly impressed with Streep’s performance. Not only did this movie display the importance of freedom of press, but it also focused on women’s empowerment, which Streep did a superb job of displaying. At many points during the movie I felt a rush of inspiration, as well as moments of me thinking, “Heck yeah, girl power!”
The Post seems to directly allude to how the media is portrayed today. “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People,” said President Donald Trump in a tweet. The Post is a reminder that credible journalistic outlets are here to spread the truth and hard news for the people of America. Without the freedom of press, the people would not truly be free, and corruption would dominate.
Overall, The Post was a great movie, but if you’re into fast-paced movies, I would not recommend this movie for you. There is a lot of dialogue. The Post gets four out of five stars from me.