Film Flick: All the President's Men

Friday, February 22, 2013


It's February and that mean's Oscar Season is upon us. Often culturally enriching and always entertaining, award-winning movies have been voted upon by the academy since the 1920s! Don't miss these Oscar Best Picture Films.


All The King's Men chronicles the investigation that led to the Washington Post exposing one of the most incredible scandals in American history, the Watergate Scandal. Produced in 1976, mere years after Watergate, it takes viewers on the trail with Bearnstein and Woodworth, the two reporters who exposed the cover-up, to tell the story behind investigation. Detailed to the American public for the first time, this movie named previously unnamed sources, and even provided details about Washington Post's most famous source, Deepthroat. In addition to recounting a suspenseful mystery, and revealing previously secret details of a major political scandal, this film also utilizes unusual visuals. A dypanric lens was used, so that the foreground and background could both be in focus, while the middle ground was not. The film also relied heavily on visual clues, filming the reporters' notes, their newspaper articles, tele-typed headlines, and even TV media news reports.

My one bone to pick about the film is that it only covers the first seven months. The ending descends almost too quickly to process what happened, and the remaining months of the scandal are summed up in tele-typed headlines. To make matters even more confusing the headlines are not presented chronologically, but end with the sensational news that Nixon's stepping down. Obviously viewers at the time would have been very familiar with the fall out of the sandal, so this might not have been an issue. In terms of how the story reads to posterity though, the filmmakers assume much in thinking future generations would be as knowledgable about Watergate.


Nonetheless, this film is sure to captivate people, - even John Deere, who was involved in Watergate and would have little reason to care for it, says so. This film won multiple academy awards. For myself, I loved the suspense, the unique visuals, and something more. In today's schools, Watergate, as with most "recent history" is dispensed with because it cannot be presented as cleanly sterile facts in the great morality play textbooks make history out to be. Learning what Watergate really entailed, and the numbers of both people and money involved, gave me a piece of really American history back. This film is a must-see that whispers a warning we should all be wary of.

8 comments

  1. Sounds like an interesting film!

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    1. It is really good; hope you like it!

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  3. It sounds really thoughtful and interesting, may have to give it a go!

    x Michelle | thefeatherden.net

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  4. I always read your film reviews but I'm a really bad commenter. I did want to say that it's always so fun to read your reviews, you enjoy many of the same movies that I love and then you had to review one of my very favorites today! I really like your thoughts about how the film doesn't follow as well for the younger generations, I had watched this for the first time back in high school and had to read up on Watergate since we were taught so little about it. (And I want to say thank you so much for your sweet comment, it really meant a lot!)

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    1. Katie- your comment really made my day! It is so nice to know people read my movie reviews! Also, I can totally see why this is a favorite with you. Such a good movie. It is too bad we are not taught more "contemporary" history in schools since that is what forms our present situations the most, so it seems really cool that as a high schooler you took the initiative to read up on Watergate.

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  5. Wow, definitely a movie I have not seen-looks very interesting though! I have been increasingly enamored with films lately that have some kind of historical significance. I may have to look this one up :)

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