Nothing But the Truth: What a Waste

I've often debated whether a great ending can salvage a mediocre movie (i.e. The Sixth Sense). I lean toward the negative.

But does a wholly bogus ending negate the positive aspects of an otherwise solid film?

In the case of Rod Lurie's Nothing but the Truth, the answer is a loud and angry, "Yes."

The ending is so phony, so off-putting, so trivializing -- that it spoils the entire film. It wastes an opportunity to make a valuable point about press freedom, especially about the need for reporters to be able to protect confidential sources. And this, after Lurie has overcome the stumbling blocks he set for himself with the film's set-up.

The premise will be familiar to anyone who pays attention to current events, with Lurie seemingly on the wrong side of the issue, at least at the start. Kate Beckinsale plays Rachel Armstrong, a reporter for a Washington, D.C. newspaper, who stumbles on a story. The government has retaliated against an assassination attempt on the president -- and Rachel uncovers the name of a covert CIA agent, Erica van Doren (Vera Farmiga), who was involved.

But publishing the story is embarrassing to the administration - and exposing Erica as an agent supposedly violates national security. After doing so, Rachel finds herself in the crosshairs of a courtly but zealous special prosecutor (Matt Dillon), who is hunting Rachel's source. When she refuses to name him/her, the prosecutor throws her in jail.

There she stays -- for a year. Rachel suffers the indignities and brutalities of dorm-like living conditions among a tough prison populace. Nothing her editor (Angela Bassett) or lawyer (Alan Alda) do can get her sprung, thanks to the prosecutor and a tough-minded judge (played, ironically, by legendary First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams).

The reporter as victim is a tough sell in a society that places increasingly little trust in the press. But Lurie makes it work by diverging significantly from his source material: the Valerie Plame case and the jailing of New York Times reporter Judith Miller. I referred earlier to this as a stumbling block, for a couple of reasons.

For the rest of this review, check my website, www.hollywoodandfine.com.

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Comments

[tao53nyc]

The "waste" in this film is the self-serving and utterly false premise that there are still reporters out there who yearn for Truth, mistrust authority, and think independently. In truth, most "news reporting" that exists today consists of parroting the government party line on almost everything, and sensationalizing the wrong things in the intense competition for eyeballs and ad revenue. Titillation and indoctrination, not information, is the story today. And to suggest that Judith Miller is qualified for sainthood because she was temporarily jailed is an outrage. She was one of the biggest and unabashed cheerleaders for the Iraq war. I'd jail her on that alone. Too late for redemption.