ANALYSIS/OPINION
This fall offers not one but two ensemble films about reporters bulldogging onto stories they believe must be told. Both are true stories. One, “Spotlight,” recalls the 2001 investigative reporting at The Boston Globe that finally, after decades of institutionalized silence, blew the lid off the Catholic clergy’s abuse scandal. Now here is the haughtily named “Truth,” recounting the infamously discredited 2004 report on then-President George W. Bush’s military record that sent several CBS employees to the unemployment line and forced veteran anchor Dan Rather into retirement — and, arguably, helped Mr. Bush to reelection.
The film stars Cate Blanchett, ever reliable, as fiery “60 Minutes” producer Mary Mapes. Sporting a wildly sprouted orange-blond mop, Miss Blanchett flawlessly channels the Texas accent (the film was shot in Miss Blanchett’s native Australia) and impassioned zest of Ms. Mapes to find the smoking gun that proves — she hopes — that President Bush went AWOL during his time in the Texas Air National Guard, that the scions of rich Texas families were fast-tracked there to avoid serving in Vietnam.
Ever by her side, coaching her on, is Dan Rather (Robert Redford), his politics little secret and his newsman’s nose telling him that there is certainly something there to undermine the president.
“Truth” is yet another film not about finding the story but about what the story itself is when it is found. “True Story,” yet another of 2015’s real life-based dramas about a disgraced writer penning a story on a suspected Oregon husband accused of murdering his entire film, made the case that the story itself effectively changes the reporter via osmosis alone. There was also “The End of the Tour,” based on David Lipsky’s autobiographical novel about spending the final leg of the book tour for “Infinite Jest” with mercurial author David Foster Wallace (magnificently played by Jason Segel).
As someone of a libertarian bent, Ms. Mapes’ crusade I found worthy. But as a journalist, her conduct I found nauseating. Continuing to justify her actions long after the story’s lack of support evinced itself, Ms. Mapes made the case that she was put through the wringer by the system, by the media, by people she trusted. While she’s not necessarily incorrect in such an assessment, as portrayed in the film, there doesn’t seem to be enough of a mea culpa. We are meant to forgive her sins if we believe in her cause — and not to if we believe otherwise.
It feels wrongly to portray Mapes as a misunderstood hero, as “Truth” wants us to recognize her as. There are no heroes in “Truth,” only tragic figures and poor decisions. Ms. Mapes was fired justly and with cause — as were those who worked with her and continued to back her as the lack of evidence turned against her. The closing script informing us that she hasn’t worked in TV journalism since the scandal I found comforting.
As journalists, we do our damnedest to get it right the first time. Such a lesson is even more expedient in the digital age, when being correct isn’t necessarily as important as being first. But when it comes to a sitting president’s record, the fate of the country and for those serving in a war in Iraq that would soon prove itself unpopular, the onus of proof — nay, the imperative — was on those CBS reporters and producers.
Forgive my cynicism, but when Mr. Redford’s Rather smiles his way through a conversation with Mapes, disguising his hurt by saying he “never doubted” her, strikes this viewer as false. Ms. Mapes’ book is unread by myself, but even if such an interchange really took place — if it is, in fact, “truth” — it lands as hollow in a scene showing a septuagenarian newsman and 24-year anchor of the evening news desk forced into retirement due to the actions of the very producer he cheerily confides in. I don’t buy it. As a good friend of mine once said, “just because it’s true doesn’t make it interesting.”
Thankfully, we have Miss Blanchett, an actress seemingly incapable of poor performance. Her Mapes is nearly Ahab-ian in her drive for the story and in her refusal to admit defeat in the face of certainty. She lands the performance without a wrong note, and is supported in a cast of able thespians including Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace and absolutely scene-stealing work from Australian actress Noni Hazelhurst. In a room full of seasoned acting vets, Miss Hazelhurst is a force of nature in a key scene about halfway through that you must see for yourself to believe.
How you feel ultimately about “Truth” may well depend on your personal politics, but how I felt about it came down to the uncomfortable disquiet at a film that tries perhaps a little too hard to lionize loose journalistic practice and shifty ethics in pursuit of an attempt to splash mud on Mr. Bush’s hopes for a second term. The film, ably made by first-time director and “Amazing Spider-Man” writer James Vanderbilt, seems to go to pains to push the narrative that Ms. Mapes and her team were motivated not by polemics but by a genuine desire to tell “the story.”
And therein is the canard: No story is ever completely objective but rather filtered through its reciters. Would that, say, Fox News tried to air the “inconsistencies” of Mr. Bush’s military record rather than Mr. Rather, a man long known for his liberal bent.
Or imagine The New York Times crying out for Congress to pull Planned Parenthood’s funding in the wake of the recent unpleasant videos.
See what I mean?
• Eric Althoff can be reached at twt@washingtontimes.com.
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