Three stars. Rated R, for profanity
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 10.30.15
This film is quite intriguing, in
part because its title reflects great irony: Almost no “truth” emerges here.
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| Having finally put their investigation to bed, the 60 Minutes team — from left, Lucy Scott (Elisabeth Moss), Mary Mapes (Cate Blanchett), Mike Smith (Topher Grace) and Lt. Col. Roger Charles (Dennis Quaid) — watch their colleague Dan Rather deliver the story to TV viewers. Sadly, that won't be the end of it... |
Director/scripter James
Vanderbilt’s politically charged drama is based on the late 2004 events that
later came to be known as “Rathergate”: the CBS 60 Minutes news piece that
cast doubt on the details of then-president George W. Bush’s National Guard
service.
The questions that initially
fueled the journalistic investigation — whether strings had been pulled to get
Bush into the Texas Air National Guard, as opposed to service in Vietnam; and
whether he had, in fact, honorably completed said National Guard service —
quickly were submerged beneath a rising tide of questions regarding the
legitimacy of the investigation’s sources and “smoking-gun documentation.”
This script is based on Truth
and Duty: The Press, the President and the Privilege of Power, the 2005 book
by Mary Mapes, who produced the CBS News piece, but Vanderbilt is an unlikely
candidate for such an assignment. His previous résumé is limited to crime dramas
and high-octane action epics such as The Amazing Spider-Man and White House Down, and his dialog here too frequently sounds like amateur efforts to
imitate Aaron Sorkin or David Mamet.
The performances are robust, and
Vanderbilt has done reasonably well with this directing debut; he knows how to
guide his actors through their scenes. No question, as well, that this is an
important story, and one with lessons to be learned. But the narrative is frequently
clumsy, the timeline occasionally confusing, and we’re ultimately left with
more questions than answers (which, although almost certainly intentional, is
nonetheless irritating).
On top of which, Vanderbilt makes
a few glaring rookie mistakes, starting with his opening scene, wherein Mapes
(Cate Blanchett) begins an intense first meeting with ... somebody. We’re
inclined to assume he’s a shrink; we eventually learn, much later, that he’s a
lawyer. Either way, he’s a gimmick that allows Mapes to recount her story while it’s still happening, which is simply daft.
The narrative proper begins in
the spring of 2004, just as CBS broadcasts Mapes’ breaking-news story of the
Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse. It’s a moment of triumph — and a piece
that would go on to win CBS and Mapes a Peabody Award — but, in the demanding
environment of a news studio, just another assignment completed, with many more
to go.
