No one likes to portray those who would do wrong in an
effort to make a point than those who lean for left or right. The thing is only
the left gets called on this because they tend to control most things coming
from Hollywood these days. Far right movies aren’t being made and if they are
they’re not seen or featured in theaters across the country. But heroes are
created by and for the left in droves. The only thing is most people tend to
ignore these films when they hit theaters (see LIONS FOR LAMBS).
TRUTH proposes to tell the real story about what happened to
Dan Rather and CBS news when they rushed to present a story that would damage
the reputation of George W. Bush during an election year only to discover they
had been duped by false documents. I will give them credit in this film for
getting most of that information correct. Where it falters is its attempt to
still try and make out producer Mary Mapes as a hero destroyed by a
conglomerate rather than by her own poor choices fueled by her beliefs. More
than anything reporters should remain objective. When that fails they just
become advertisers for a cause.
In the days leading up to the Presidential election in 2004
the news people are scrambling to give wall to wall coverage to the candidates
running for the highest office. When word reaches producer Mary Mapes (Cate
Blanchett) at CBS that there is a potential bombshell available that will bring
down President George W. Bush she leaps at it. Meeting with Bill Burkett (Stacy
Keach) she is presented with documents that show Bush’ records of time spent in
the Air National Guard as being falsified.
As the movie progresses we find that this was a story Mapes
pursued during Bush’ first election but couldn’t get traction with because
there was no physical proof. With these documents in hand the proof is now
there. Or is it? This is where things get muddled as Mapes sends the documents
out to be verified. Except that since they’re copies they can’t be verified.
Using a team of experts to find out they are at odds with one another as to the
validity of the documents. But Mapes has an agenda and that’s what matters.
That mistake ended both Mapes and anchorman Dan Rather’s
careers. The movie here plays out like many films concerning the press, showing
a team of hard working individual in search of the truth who face
insurmountable odds to face off against the political machines that hope to destroy
them. Except that here we never see any political machine doing that. Instead
we see their willingness to accept for fact that which they want to believe rather
than to find out the factual and provable truth. An overzealous desire to get
the scoop, to bring down the mighty and to reap praise from co-workers
supplants the requirement of verifying before taking a story to air. Failure to
do so results in what happens in this story.
While the first half of the film depicts the events that led
to the story being aired the next half shows how that story was unraveled, not
by a right wing conspiracy but as the facts began to actually come out. The documents
were proven to be false. Even though this happened the movie still tries to
present them as possibly being real. But it fails as did the defense both Mapes
and Rather came up with to legitimize their actions. They were blinded by the
potential of being stars rather than factual reporters. That’s sad because the
truth of the matter is that Rather was indeed a great journalist.
The move is well made when it comes to the technical aspects
on view here. It’s shot well and moves at a steady pace. But it fails with the
story’s formation trying to create journalistic heroes rather than real people.
None of those who lost their jobs are seen as having learned anything from
their ordeal. Rather than admit that they were duped they instead hold their
heads high as they leave jobs behind having fought the good fight. Rather than
being portrayed as a group that chose to follow a story because it suited their
political beliefs, they’re shown as standing up for the freedom of the press
even if in this case they were wrong. Mapes is shown crumbling into a fetal
ball at one point until encouraged to speak her mind and stand up for herself
before a committee put together to render judgement on her actions. Like Joan
of Arc raising her eyes to Heaven as the flames burn around her, the music
swells and she holds her head high. Only a footnote at the end shows Mapes has
never returned to work in network news since.
Perhaps the worst moment for me was as the film depicts Dan
Rather (played unconvincingly by Robert Redford) leaving on his last night on
the air. With an eloquence that Rather actually possesses he says his final
words and finishes with an old final word he once used before being asked to
stop, “Courage”. And here’s where it goes south. Rather stands to slow motion
applause and the music swells with violins creating a sweet and heroic sound as
he looks around the room and then makes his way off the set. If you turned away
for a moment and turned back you would sear you were watching the ending of THE
NATURAL which starred Redford instead of this film.
The movie does tell a story but as for offering truth I’m
not sure that it actually does so. It did offer a more balanced view than I
expected considering the cast and those behind the scenes but in the end those
last few digs at anyone who disagrees or who sees this as a bad time for
journalism come out and praise is brought back to its two main figures even if
what they did was wrong. Perhaps one day a documentary will be made that will
offer the truth. Until then we have this film which through enjoyable and easy
to watch doesn’t quite completely deserve the name it’s been tagged with.
No comments:
Post a Comment