Meryl Streep in a scene from “The Post” in 2017. IMDb photo

First of all, before we review “The Post,” here is what the Pentagon Papers were all about, and how they made the Washington Post, in revealing them, a great paper. They revealed to all of us here and abroad, how then President Lyndon B. Johnson had lied to congress and all of us about the Vietnam war, and ended Johnson’s reign. Old news. How old? 1971.

MOVIE INFO

”THE POST”
Docudrama, Political Drama, Political Thriller, Biography, Drama, History, Thriller, War
A cover-up spanning four U.S. Presidents pushes the country’s first female newspaper publisher and her editor to join an unprecedented battle between press and government.
Length: 116 minutes
Rating: Mild violence, gore, profanity, drugs, smoking, frightening and intense scenes
Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: Liz Hannah, Josh Singer
Stars: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson

Daniel Ellsberg. Forgotten him? Daniel revealed to the New York Times in 1971 how the the U.S. had secretly enlarged the Vietnam war with raids on North Vietnam with Marine Corps attacks in the “Pentagon Papers.” A federal district court issued an injunction against the Times to prevent them from publishing the story, and the Post was presented with a chance to scoop the Times if they ignored the injunction.

It’s been a long time. Back then I had little interest in the story. So I found the 2010 documentary, “The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg and The Pentagon Papers.”

That was the story and that got the Washington Post in the game and made heroes out of Ben Bradlee and the brave owner, Katharine Graham.

“The Post” is a 2018 film directed by Steven Spielberg, a fiery Democrat super filmmaker who seemed to have been licking his lips to get into the game.

The great Meryl Streep plays Graham, who inherited the paper from her father and mother, Eugene and Agnes Meyer, who purchased The Washington Post at a bankruptcy sale in 1933.

You get to see one more time, if you missed it, a youngish Tom Hanks as Bradlee, still humming and ticking with boiling energy, as I’m sure he’s doing in the new “here.”

Other reviews wrote about how “a president tarnished the office he held, leading people to lose faith in their government and its institutions for decades to come.” Wow! History really does repeat itself.

In Spielberg’s beautifully cast movie, Katharine is, at least as Streep plays her, strung out and confused, and not excited by running a big boring newspaper. In the end of the movie, and the real story, with Bradlee as the quarterback, she is given the ball and runs it to the end zone.

Here, Streep is as always magical and compelling. Almost no one today remembers Katharine, but videos give us a hint and knowing Streep, she got it right.

The impressive cast also includes Bob Odenkirk (who plays Ben Bagdikian in a last minute run with the “papers”), Tracy Letts, Sarah Paulson, Bradley Whitford, Matthew Rhys (as a quiet, dark and determined Daniel Ellsberg), Carrie Coon and Jesse Plemons.

Spielberg fills his screen with aides and helpers, smart details like the jurors in 1957’s “12 Angry Men.” Streep and Hanks’ quiet side room conversations are soft but intense, and these are actors who are two of the greatest actors in film land.

“The Post,” as real today as then, highlights another breathtaking moment in American political history as is happening this very moment. Stay tuned to who will play Kamala and Trump in the future. I hope you voted.

“The Post” can be rented on Amazon Prime Video and other streaming services.

J.P. Devine of Waterville is a former stage and screen actor.