The Post: A Movie to See or a Movie to Leave?

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Sarah Waldrop, Writer

Dreamworks and Steven Spielberg recently released a phenomenal movie with Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep called, “The Post,” a story about the Pentagon Papers and the Washington Post’s response to the situation.

The movie takes place post Vietnam War in the early ’70s. Tom Hanks plays Ben Bradlee, an editor for the Washington Post. Meryl Streep plays Kay Graham, the Post’s owner and a huge female influence in the movie. Most of the movie’s setting take place in Washington D.C., and in New York.

Going into the movie, I did not know much about the Pentagon Papers and the Washington Post’s involvement with it. All I knew was that they revealed secrets about the Vietnam War. Love Lundy, a sophomore, shared what she already knew about the Pentagon Papers before going into the movie. “I knew a little bit about it. I knew that they exposed the war and how the government was somehow involved in it.”  

Although this movie takes place in the early 70s, it also parallels to news companies today. Like the Washington Post in the movie, news medias are always facing threats and other oppositions. The movie portrays the intensity of their problems with being a news station rising to popularity and what a newsroom would look like in their difficult situation.

Lundy recommended seeing it. “I loved it! It was my first journalism movie and wanting to be a journalist, it was so beautiful. It was beautifully written. I thought they did a wonderful job in recreating the Washington Post’s newsroom and the culture of working in a 70s newsroom like the cigarette smoke… everywhere! And I really loved Meryl Streep’s character. I loved her monologue in the newsroom when she was like ‘this is what we’re doing and now I’m going to sleep.’ I just really loved the movie!”

Although the movie was great, the movie did have some flaws. For example, I felt as if sometimes the costuming did not fit the 70s time period. Some of the characters’ outfits could have easily been worn today and fit right in with modern clothing. Another flaw was the character development. Sometimes it was hard to follow who the characters were and what was happening in some scenes.

Overall, “The Post” was worth watching and had me intrigued throughout the movie.