The film is set during the frantic last days before a heavily contested Ohio presidential primary. When an up-and-coming press secretary (Ryan Gosling) finds himself involved in a political scandal, he discovers a trail leading all the way to his potential presidential boss (George Clooney). The entire candidacy is threatened, putting Gosling in a tricky situation: save his job, or save his morality.
This week, I am stretching all the way to 1976.
I like the whole corruption business. When corruption goes all the way up the American ladder, it becomes especially dramatic. So let's take it all the way to the president. One thing needs to change, though. Instead of Clooney's fiction, let's go to real life. When I think presidential corruption, I think of one man.
This week, I present "All the President's Men."
To give some perspective, Watergate happened in '72. Nixon resigned in '74. This film came out in '76. Within the span of four years, movie producers made a biographical film about one of America's most shameful scandals. Maybe they were capitalizing on scandal, but wow... talk about guts.
However, "All the President's Men" does not focus on the scandal itself, but rather the hardships endured by Woodward (Robert Redford) and Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman), the investigative journalists who uncovered Nixon's plot. The film follows their infamous meetings with Washington insiders, wronged secretaries and duped security guards. Every clue leads to more clues or, more frequently, dead ends. The information comes in trickles, making this film an exercise in suspenseful tension.
The Final Stretch:
Power corrupts. It's an age-old mantra, but one that people need to keep hearing. Truth can and will be obscured from public view. "The Ides of March" looks at what a person hides to obtain presidency, while "All the President's Men" observes what a man did to control that power. However, in both cases, we meet people who have the power to stop them. Politics is the same, no matter your time period. Corruptions and scandals will always pollute the American landscape. However, the search for truth is equally unending.
Wow! Great post Justin. I've seen the trailers for "The Ides of March," and wondered if it's a good film.
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