Steven Spielberg's movie “The Post”

Student’s Name Course Instructor Date “The Post” Movie Review “Freedom of the Press, if it means anything at all, means the freedom to criticize and oppose.” -George Orwell. This quote is proven true in Steven Spielberg’s movie “The Post.” The movie revolves around the struggles of the Washington Post to expose the rot in the government that is under the leadership of President Nixon. The government is hell-bent on not telling the public the truth about the Vietnam War and even a popular newspaper such as the New York Times is blocked from publishing and reporting about sensitive documents that reveal the truth. It takes the courage and great efforts of two individuals working for The Post, Bradlee and Katherine Graham, to get the story out. In their efforts to reveal the truth to the public, the movie explores the themes of media freedom, the role of women in society and courage in standing for the truth. In “The Post”, the movie generally explores journalistic message. In particular, the movie seeks to pass across the message of media freedom. Set in the 1970s when media freedom was unheard of, the movie chronicles the struggles of the Washington Post newspaper in trying to publish documents known as the Pentagon Papers. This move was against the wishes of the then president Nixon because the papers contained all the true information on the Vietnam War and the real scope of that war. The fact that the president did not support media freedom is shown when he prevents the New York Times newspaper from accessing and publishing those papers. Even powerful lawyers are used to discourage those who wish to take up the publishing of the story like in the case of The Post. Based on this, it is evident that the American government was keen on dictating what content journalists could publish and using its power to suppress whatever seemed to criticize the government. Often, journalists who dare go against the wishes of the government face constant threats or other consequences such as being arrested and jailed. The truth of this is seen when the Nixon Government uses all means in trying to stop Bradlee and Graham and they even face a possible jail time for simply standing for the truth. Overall, the movie centers on the idea that sometimes it takes the efforts of courageous journalists to make the truth of a nation and its leaders known to the public. While covering the journalistic message, the movie also explores the role of women in society. Indeed the movie was set at a time when the society had specific roles for men and women. Sometimes crossing the set standards by either gender was a thing that was readily frowned upo...