Film Review

Truth Review

Published

11 years ago

January 29, 2016

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♦ Tripwire gave Contributing Writer ANDREW COLMAN the task of reviewing US political drama Truth, starring Cate Blanchett and Robert Redford and out on 5 March at UK cinemas

Truth

Director: James Vanderbilt

Stars: Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford, Dennis Quaid

The story of CBS news anchor Dan Rather and his producer Mary Mapes’s 2004 investigation of then-President George W. Bush’s preferential treatment from the Texas Air National Guard and the consequent retaliation at the hands of vested interests is a worthwhile one, but barely takes off dramatically, such is its need to shoehorn detail and editorializing at the expense of characterization. Truth wastes no time in bringing the audience straight into the action, and more’s the pity, as the first hour or so does come across as an exercise in logistics.

At least, as matters are based on real-life events, we are guaranteed a non-Hollywood ending, but even then the expository nature of the beast leaves little nuance for most of the ensemble, bar Mapes (Cate Blanchett) who gets to do the lion’s share of the emoting, especially in the last half hour. There’s also a bittersweet denouement for the unimpeachably decent Dan Rather, played here by none other than Robert Redford, no doubt brought in to echo his turn as Bob Woodward from 40 years ago. It’s good to see Redford, approaching 80 years of age, playing one of the leads (and the most iconic character, natch) but as with ‘76’s Watergate classic, not to mention nearly all his key seventies works, Redford is Redford, so Rather’s inner dialogue stays absent. The man exudes calm, paternal benevolence, but little more, so all the turbulence is left to the rest of the cast. Of those, Dennis Quaid has very little to do, and Elisabeth Moss, hurriedly interjecting her lines, even less. It’s left to Topher Grace (as researcher Mike Smith) to tilt at corporate windmills, but at least his quirky, oddball performance as the socially awkward outsider hits the right notes.

Not to take anything away from Blanchett’s reliably professional effort, which does threaten to involve, especially as enemy interests gradually undermine her position and then her poise. The showdown with her hardboiled executive producer Josh Howard (David Lyons, very good) for the most part is brief enough to steer clear of hokum, whilst her trial by government lawyers, very much the hub of the movie, is satisfyingly intense – the script for once crackling with subtext and outrage. The other highlight would be the lead characters’ somewhat mercenary handling of the film’s collateral damage, tragic key witness Bill Burkett (Stacy Keach) which for once sees events stray into a moral grey area, albeit formulaically.

It wouldn’t be unfair to say that Vanderbilt’s work is burdened by the focal message of the piece – as a film aimed at a more mature demographic it still takes no chances, keen to be a straightforward polemic rather than a layered political thriller, a low-key reminder of a footnote from a decade or so ago that failed to ignite. Even the subtle menace of the government inquisitors doesn’t adequately foreshadow today’s declining political mores, wherein all manner of underhandedness, propaganda and bullying are far more rife and acceptable than 12 years ago, which was surely the point. Vanderbilt may not overplay that hand, but then he doesn’t credit the audience with enough intelligence either, so we are left with a moderately diverting cover-up, an all-too familiar narrative and a film that is shackled by good intentions and a non-cinematic premise.

ANDREW COLMAN