Creating thrill out of a cold turkey

Rating: 10/10 (2 July 2008)

The Watergate scandal is one of the most definitive moments in American history. It was an event of great seismic proportion which saw President Nixon resigning due to the involvement of white house officials in the burglary. But to be frank, it was a small time third rate burglary and corruption scandal, it did not included covert killings or direct threats to anyone. So, it was fairly difficult task to come up with thriller-drama out of this one, along with keeping it true to the real events.
Alan J. Pakula succeeds in creating a suspense thriller kind of drama which does not deviate from the actual events. But most of the credit for this masterpiece goes to the two lead actors Dustin Hoffman & Robert Redford for their sincere performance as Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward, the Washington post journalists who stuck the story and let did not let the burglary slip at the back burner of the national scene in America. Another important character in this episode of American history who has become a cult over the years was Woodward's garage freak source for the confirmation of the story 'Deepthroat'. As his true identity to the outer world was just revealed a couple of years back in 2005, his characterization in the movie was most important as audiences around the world would be more eager to know about him and his role in the case. The movie succeeds in showing 'Deepthroat' as a dark, secretive but helpful person. The scenes involving the interaction between 'Deepthroat' and Woodward in the garage parking are the most thrilling and dark in the movie. The murky garage scenes raise the intensity of film and succeed in capturing the viewing public's imagination. The two journalists were never actually threatened, but they do get credible information about the threat to there lives. Hence in the movie, the director has to show heightened sense of silent drama to portrait the effect of the undeniable threat to there life. These succeed in creating suspicion and bit of fear in the minds of the audience about the live of the journalists.
The movie performs well in each department and manages to portray credible characters and sets which also adds to the political thrill. This is the biggest plus for this film as its every scene smells as real as possible.