IF you’re going to make a movie and call it ‘Truth’, it better be about something important.
Truth after all is a big deal. We spend lots of time searching for it, and some of us, especially those seeking higher office, exert considerable energy avoiding it.
In the case of his new film, writer/director James Vanderbilt (‘The Amazing Spider-Man’) opts to tell the story of the Killian Documents controversy (a.k.a. ‘Rathergate’) in the days leading up to the 2004 US presidential election.
When veteran newscaster Dan Rather and CBS News head Mary Mapes choose to air a segment on the popular TV show 60 Minutes (their Prime Time), exposing how President Bush avoided being drafted to Vietnam through his father’s political advantages, the resulting fallout ultimately costs them their jobs and reputations.
Fair enough you may say, but the problem with this story in a non US context, is that nobody really cares about Dan Rather or his show, as we don’t have that same emotional connection to him that Americans do. A greater issue I have with the film in general, is that the whole world now knows how the Bush administration lied on a much greater scale to bring about a war that they’d been planning for some time.
To focus an entire movie therefore on whether a man capable of such high level deception would have avoided putting himself on the front line of battle by pulling some political strings, is like pitching an idea based on the premise that a young Adolf Hitler may have been involved in cruelty to animals. There are simply bigger questions at play.
Cate Blanchett stars as CBS producer Mapes and is solid as ever in a not so demanding role, with Robert Redford supporting her as a convincing Dan Rather.
If you’re interested in the events of the time leading up to Bush’s re-election and questions of journalistic integrity, there may be something in this film for you, otherwise the lack of drama and intrigue may put you to sleep. We score it an average 2.5 out of 5 stars.
Paul O’Rourke
