"Brought remarkably well to the big screen by Spielberg, The Post is a thoughtful and important dramatisation "

There are challenges when basing a film on historic events, for one; there is no need to worry about spoilers, since the event happened and we know the outcome and it falls to the filmmaker and talent involved to tell the story responsibly by not taking too much creative licence and that is the subject of today’s review; Steven Spielberg’s The Post, starring the incredible talents of Meryl Streep (Katherine Graham) and Tom Hanks (Ben Bradlee).

I wasn’t all that familiar with the events, sure I had heard about it and I’m sure it was taught in school, but The Post does a very good job at presenting the facts in an easily digestible way.

Set in the early 1970’s, The Post is a recounting of the infamous Pentagon Papers scandal that rocked the world during the conflict in Vietnam, where the US government was complicit in the cover up of the war effort, and it fell to The Washington Post to print the classified documents and risk everything or bury the lead, they printed the papers and that lead to the resignation of Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal a few years later.

Brought remarkably well to the big screen by Spielberg, The Post is a thoughtful and important dramatisation of the events that unfolded to expose the information that lead to many unnecessary deaths, during a needless war effort.

The film doesn’t work without the stellar performances given by Streep, Hanks and Bob Odenkirk (Ben Bagdikian), there’s a reason they are at the top of the wish list to work with, they embody their characters, giving well rounded performances; something we have grown to expect from these powerhouses of Cinema.

That said, the support cast including Alison Brie as Lally Graham and Sarah Paulson as Tony Bradlee give exceptional performances that further enhance the enjoyment of the film.

There’s not much else to say about The Post, it’s a wonderful and poignant film that deserves all the praise it has been receiving, the events unfold at an even pace, Streep and Hanks shine in his timely political thriller.