Sony Pictures Classics
In late 2004 as the Bush-Kerry election inched ever closer, the television news program 60 Minutes presented a broadcast about then President George W. Bush’s time in the Texas National Guard. Chief among the accusations was that Bush never showed up for several years as his assigned base. Controversy soon erupted, with many claiming some of the documents referenced in the piece were forged. Dan Rather resigned (or was “asked” to leave) and later sued CBS for breach of contract, although he lost that case. All in all, it was embarrassing for everyone.
So why make a movie about it?
Truth comes from director James Vanderbilt and is based on the book Truth and Duty: The Press, The President, and The Privilege of Power by Mary Mapes, who was the news producer at 60 Minutes at the time. In the movie, she’s played by Cate Blanchett, and Dan Rather is played by Robert Redford, who doesn’t really seem to be doing much of an impression. We start seeing Mary doing fine, award winning work with Dan, and then she begins to build a team to investigate some curious reports about Bush’s military service.
Her team consists of hippie jerk Mike Smith (Topher Grace), Army vet Lt. Colonel Roger Charles (Dennis Quaid), and talented researcher Lucy Scott (Elisabeth Moss). After some work of “asking the questions” and “searching for the truth,” they uncover some odd discrepancies with Bush’s record. So far, so good, but nothing truly shocking. That’s when they get contacted by old and infirm veteran Bill Burkett (Stacy Keach), who claims to have documents, photocopied but authentic, that prove the truth about Bush.
After some slipshod work where Mary ignores a lot of potential warning signs and grasps for even slight possibilities that the documents are real, she convinces Dan to run the story. All is well until the backlash begins. Eventually they begin to really look into Burkett and his story, discovering that perhaps it wasn’t quite as he said. But it’s too late; with all the talk about the potential forgery, people have already forgotten about the non-contested parts of the news story about Bush’s record. And instead it’s Mary, Dan, and the whole crew under fire and investigation.
As a thriller, the movie kind of works. It’s a bit over two hours long, but it’s paced pretty well. Mary makes clear mistakes, but understandable ones, and she is punished for “seeking the truth.” But the problem is that the movie isn’t shy about its liberal leanings. Much as it likes to repeat that Mary isn’t politically biased, they are clearly anti-Bush and highly annoyed about the aftermath of the scandal. Considering it’s based on the real life Mary’s book, perhaps that’s not much of a surprise.
The movie fails to achieve real nuance, instead going over the top with its message, which, like the scandal it references, obscures the “truth” inherent to the proceedings. Now, the movie has many elements that work well. The cast is great, with Cate Blanchett anchoring a group of talented but well considered characters. Robert Redford only sneaks in a bit of work here, trying to show off a mild touch of gravitas in a way that’s mostly successful. Really there aren’t problems with the acting here, it’s the subtext that bothers me.
I wouldn’t have a problem with the political nature of the movie if it acknowledged its own biases, but the film is so adamant about the right to “ask questions” trumping what is essentially a failure to properly vet material, it’s hard to cut it much slack. The movie fancies itself far more important than it is, which is a movie that’s really just okay.
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