A History Lesson

Rating: 10/10 (6 August 2006)

I was born in 1974, so the events depicted in All The President's Men had just concluded. By the time I was old enough and interested enough to start asking, "What's Watergate," more than a decade had passed.
I can distinctly remember two events that throughout my schooling my fellow classmates and I were dying to learn more about, yet teachers were far too reluctant, to say the least, to consider discussing. The Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal.
When asked teachers would often cite a lack of time as the reason why we couldn't discuss these topics. In retrospect my guess is that even 10-15 years after these events had concluded teachers, at least those teaching junior high and high school, were still uncertain as to how to approach these two subjects. They undoubtedly had an opinion and perhaps opinions were still so strong on both issues that administrators and those in charge of curriculum decided a hands off approach was best. For that my fellow students and I made it through high school graduation learning very little about a fascinating very recent slice of American history.
It wasn't until 1998 that I learned about a movie about the Watergate scandal called All The President's Men. Surprising to say the least since I am such a huge fan of film. It was the summer of 1998 and my then girlfriend and I were in Washington D.C. visiting some of my relatives. As always, my uncle was the ultimate tour guide. While touring the Library Of Congress he showed us the location of the famous over head shot that is seen in the movie. Once home from vacation I immediately went to the video store and rented All The President's Men. So good it was I actually watched it twice in one sitting.
I truly believe that the 1970's is perhaps one of the most interesting decades in our country's history. I can't even really explain why, but I am quite certain that the overall darkness and disappointment that surrounds most of the decade has something to do with my interest in those years. Those ten years were sandwich'd between the artificial self important idealism of the 1960's and the bloated larger than life fat cat life style of the 1980's. For many growing up in the 1970's Watergate was just one example of why they were on a daily basis losing faith in our country.
All The President's Men, I believe, captures this event perfectly. The story is told almost totally without any judgment whatsoever. You watch the movie from the reporter's point of view. Their job is to simply gather facts and report them to the public. It's not their job to make judgments. It's their job to present information so that we can make judgments. Of course that is a very idealistic view of the media, but I do believe that is what makes All The Predient's Men so special. We all know how the story ends. The movie is simply a presentation of the events surrounding Watergate and those involved with the scandal.
Even today the story holds up and is suspenseful to watch. It's also a sincere glimpse into the day to day workings of a newspaper (at least at that time). There is no effort to glamorize the lives or jobs of Woodward and Bernstein, two working class investigative reporters.
What makes All The President's Men so affective to me is the incredibly slow pace at which the tension builds. Especially by today's standards it's a very slow moving movie, but by the end of the movie the tension is nearly unbearable. For over two hours the tension builds and not once does it let up. Again, keeping in mind that we all know how the story ends. That being said, you can genuinely feel the fear that Woodward and Bernstein are experiencing as they unfold one of this country's most devastating political scandals.
It's clear that everyone involved in the filming of All The President's Men (Redford, Hoffman, Pakula etc) were committed to giving it their all. It's a joy to watch a political thriller that doesn't seem hellbent on force feeding a point of view down the viewers (deep) throats. Knowing the outcome it's impossible to sympathize with Nixon and presenting the movie that way would have been an injustice, regardless of your political stance.
I highly recommend All The President's Men to anyone who is a fan of political thrillers or anyone who is interested in this period of American history. Actually, I recommend this movie to anyone who is a fan of film because it is one of the best.