True Political Drama - A Dramatic Work of Art

Rating: 10/10 (20 April 2010)

In an age of movies which are mostly eye candy this movie is a rare and special treat.
Based upon a successful stage play, this movie outlines a battle of wills, and a contest of minds in a way that attains high dramatic tension. Both the hero (Frost) and the anti-hero (Nixon) are made fully human, so the viewer becomes emotionally involved with both, each in different ways. Frost is the light-weight underdog, using words and strategy to trap the more experienced, cagey, but tragic character of Richard Nixon, a man who aspired to greatness, and actually did many great things, but was brought low by his own acts of conceit and arrogance. He is shown, despite his having attained the highest office in the US, as a tragic everyman, a person from the ordinary world of semi-poverty and a nondescript background who tried to enter the world of the elite, but never felt fully accepted.
But this movie is not just a wordy talk-a-thon. It is high drama of a cerebral kind. What will happen? Who will win? Will Tricky Dick slip out of the net cast by a light weight entertainer who is no reporter or interviewer? Will David Frost rise from low-level entertainer/moderator who interviews the Bee-Gees to become the man who got from Richard Nixon what no one else could get, an admission of culpability? Knowing history's final outcome does not detract from the drama of the events as they unfold.
If you love the art of cinema, then you will truly appreciate this film. It is a masterpiece, and a fine example of all that makes Hollywood great, and not just box office.