No one in America history will remain as enigmatic as Richard Nixon

Rating: 8/10 (1 January 2009)

We want so badly to understand Richard Nixon, especially those of us who lived in his time. Did David Frost give us our best chance? Probably. In this Ron Howard film, Michael Sheen and Frank Langella give us possibly the only chance we ever had to understand the man. From Broadway to screen to living room to book, it seems we are guaranteed to never understand Richard Nixon. Even David Frost becomes entrapped in Nixon's elastic web, escaping at the last minute snapping back to himself again. And yet--and yet--as the screen fades to black we see Nixon against the ocean pondering....what? I wonder did he ever ponder for us? It is a wonderful film, Langella is superb, Sheen as well. Nixon's grandfather fought at Gettysburg, his beloved mother was a Quaker and yet his entire domestic policy gave lie to what had been sacrificed for his sake. Was he bad, was he so thoughtless, I think not--and that is the engima. See the film as you may never see something quite like it again.