Director:Â James Vanderbilt
Cast: Cate Blanchett,  Robert Redford,  Topher Grace,  Dennis Quaid,  Elisabeth Moss,  Bruce Greenwood,  Stacy Keach,  John Benjamin Hickey,  David Lyons,  Dermot Mulroney
Running Time: 125 mins
Rating: 15
Release Date:Â 04/03/2016
We haven’t seen enough of Robert Redford on the big-screen lately, unlike his contemporaries Clint Eastwood, Dustin Hoffman and others of his generation. Aside from a supporting role in the recent Marvel offering CAPTAIN AMERICA – THE WINTER SOLDIER, he hasn’t really been a visible presence, preferring indeed to focus on Sundance and environmental issues. It’s a shame, because he still has the potential to steal the show.
All I will say is that if Redford, not that anybody wants him to, decided to make a swan-song from the big-screen, he has certainly found it in James Vanderbilt‘s pulsating journalistic drama TRUTH, which returns Redford to the territory he made his own four decades ago with ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN. It is not just a vanity showpiece and a movie that taps into the Michael Moore-psyche created through the likes of FAHRENHEIT 9/11 and other post-9/11 offerings like UNITED 93.
Redford once suggested an idea to the effect that there was a negative effect of ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN’s release in that it created the opposite effect and influence, with journalists preferring to focus on  the glamour of the profession, rather than the objective of getting the story. TRUTH is actually something that cuts into that mentality on a very multi-layered and deep-meaning level.
Although the film’s key focus is again on George Bush and post-9/11 political questioning, this is just the start-off point for something more revealing.
Based on American journalist and television news producer Mary Mapes’Â memoir Truth and Duty: The Press, the President and the Privilege of Power., it tells of how certain documents pertaining to Bush’s attendance and commitment whilst training in the military came to the fore, whether he got preferential treatment – and particularly the relationship between Mapes (Cate Blanchett), her production team and news anchor on CBS 60 MINUTES, Dan Rather (Redford).
TRUTH can be seen as a companion piece to ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN and BROADCAST NEWS in that the essence of the drama focuses not just on the story being followed, but also the effect the actions of the characters have on those both in and out of the newsroom around them. SPOTLIGHT covers similar ground with the scandals surrounding the Catholic Church in Boston, but TRUTH goes a little deeper with the effect. At just over two-hours long, the film is very straight-talking rather than straight-jacketed when it comes to dealing with the facts of the case.
Much has been written recently about strong female roles and Blanchett, coming off her awards contender CAROL, is simply electrifying as Mapes, investing the right balance of sensitivity and determination to prevail with the right course of action. Redford, as I say, still manages to retain that wonderful youthful gleam in his eye and you can sense in some of the things he says that he has finally been given the opportunity to come full-circle in his career as Rather, completing a journey that began with Bob Woodward in this intelligently realised drama.
Kudos must also go to supporting actors Topher Grace and Dennis Quaid (another underrated actor) as Mike Smith and Colonel Roger Charles. Quaid particularly has some wonderfully observant and perceptive dialogue moments which rank  as some of the best he has ever been given. Fans of THE BIG EASY (1987) will recall the charisma he exuded alongside Ellen Barkin.
Oh – did I forget to mention – TRUTH gets my vote as one of the best films of 2016. It’s a shame it didn’t get put into cinemas late last year to qualify it for this awards season. That said, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS was released early in 1990 – and went on to win five Academy Awards the following year, equalling IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT and ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST. It might be too early, but it certainly has the potential. An absolute cracker.
Verdict
