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"Truth" and Consequences

It used to be that the nightly news broadcast was a national institution, and the anchors who reviewed the day's top stories on the "big three" networks were trusted household names. For nearly 25 years Dan Rather anchored the CBS Nightly News, where his many decades as a tenacious on-the-spot reporter combined with his tendency for colorful on-air commentary (classic Ratherisms from election night broadcasts include, "This race is hotter than a Times Square Rolex", "the situation in Ohio would give an aspirin a headache", and, "he's got his back to the wall, his shirttail's on fire, and the bill collector is at the door") made him a viewer favorite. Mr. Rather had an up and down relationship with his host network that ended abruptly when he retired in 2005 in the wake of the controversy over a story about then-President Bush's military record with the Texas Air National Guard. The story aired on CBS's midweek spinoff series "60 Minutes II", where Mr. Rather was a correspondent. He worked closely on the story with his long-time producer Mary Mapes, who was equally embroiled in what is now known alternately as the Killian memo controversy or "Rathergate".

"Truth" is the story of how the piece questioning Mr. Bush's military record came to air, how it was refuted, the steps that Mr. Rather and Ms. Mapes took to defend their investigative work on the piece, and its toll on both of their careers. The approach here isn't particularly even-handed, but that's alright; despite its title, "Truth" isn't aiming for objectivity.  It's based on Mary Mapes' memoir, and as expected given this source material, the film is explicitly subjective: righteously, sometimes stridently, and - depending on your own personal point of view - perhaps satisfyingly so. While such emotionally pitched material could lack all subtlety in the wrong hands, "Truth" benefits from excellence all around in terms of the cast: Robert Redford as Dan Rather, Cate Blanchett as Mary Mapes, and Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace, and Elizabeth Moss as reporters who were also instrumental in chasing down the Killian memo story. Stacy Keach has a smaller but nonetheless pivotal role as the retired military man who's responsible for putting the questionable source documents in the hands of reporters. Mr. Keach and Mr. Redford don't share much screen time, but the crucial scene where the two square off during an on-camera interview is dynamic.

Robert Redford isn't the natural first choice to play Dan Rather.  In fact, he's not even a logical fifth choice...or tenth choice...  Mr. Redford looks nothing like the venerable news anchor, and "Truth" doesn't go to any particular lengths to remedy that.  The suspension of disbelief is a bit of a heavy lift at first, but darned if through voice and mannerism, and a canny mix of gravitas and bonhomie, by the end of the film Mr. Redford hasn't managed to capture Mr. Rather's essence.  In playing Ms. Mapes Cate Blanchett isn't struggling with the challenge of conveying a known personality but her work here comes with its own challenges as she's shouldering the emotional center of the film almost single-handedly.  "Truth"'s primary narrative is relatively self-contained as it focuses on the development of and subsequent attempts to debunk the Killian memo story. Meanwhile there's an underlayer dealing with Ms. Mapes' dysfunctional relationship with her father.  This surfaces both as an explanation of the producer's close relationship with Mr. Rather, who purportedly became a substitute father figure to her, and it dogs her at her most vulnerable point during the post-story fallout.

Audiences won't come away from "Truth" feeling that the lingering questions surrounding "Rathergate" have been answered, but the film does provide an interesting look behind the scenes at the tv news business, and it conveys an understanding of how a broadcast news story germinates, is researched, and ultimately makes it to air.  One possible takeaway, if "Truth" gets it right, is that there are so many moving parts in the process of television journalism and matters are so tied up in the human frailties of ego, agendas, and unreliable memories that one could justifiably wonder if anything that's aired is ultimately trustworthy. The same observation could be made about the film itself, so it's probably best to watch it for the acting, for the behind the scene glimpses of how tv news gets made - and, as an added bonus, how a legal inquiry proceeds - and to be reminded of a time not too long ago when Mr. Rather was a stalwart presence in living rooms across the country each evening and a breath of fresh air during campaign season. These days, there's really nobody we can count on to tell us that a presidential race is "hot as a New York elevator in August", "shakier than cafeteria jello" or "swinging like Count Basie" - and that's the truth.