First Run Features | 2009 | 94 minutes | Not Rated
Narrated by its subject, and based in part on two of his books, The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers traces how the doubts of one highly connected Washington insider eventually led to a series of actions that helped end the war in Vietnam and eventually led to the resignation of Richard M. Nixon. Ellsberg, a onetime ‘true believer’ in America’s Cold War policy, worked as an analyst for both the Defense and State Departments, and also at the Washington sponsored RAND Corporation.
Directed by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, The Most Dangerous Man in America first introduces Ellsberg as a willing cog in the war machinery. A former peacetime commander of a Marine rifle company and lauded Harvard scholar of economics and decision theory, he believed the government line. On his first day on the job, cables came in regarding the Gulf of Tonkin incident, used by then President Lyndon Johnson to justify escalating the war in Vietnam. Later in the day, cables from the commodore in command over the “attacked” ships said there was a “problem” with the earlier reports—which turned out to be false. President Johnson would hear nothing of it; he was ready to escalate the war, and proceeded with his plan.
Ellsberg, a deeply intelligent man, wanted first-hand information. He went to Vietnam, shouldered a weapon and led a patrol. That experience convinced him that The U.S. government was painting a false portrait of success in the war. On a flight back to Washington with Robert McNamara, the defense secretary agreed that the war couldn’t be won; we see the two men leaving the airplane together before McNamara would lie to the press and claim America was winning the war. McNamara would resign as defense secretary in 1968, the reasons for which are still not completely clear.
Convinced that Vietnam was a stalemate, and alienated by his fiancé’s constant criticism of his career, an increasingly disillusioned Ellsberg begins to put a once unthinkable plan into motion: copy the secret study of American intervention into Vietnam and then leak it to Congress and the press. From there, what was a story of personal conscience becomes a political thriller. There’s a near-miss with the LAPD as the Ellsberg family scurries to copy the stolen document, a midnight handoff from the New York Times to an anti-war Senator and the White House Tapes recording an irate Nixon railing against “that son-of-a-bitchin’ thief for endangering his plans for total military victory (Nixon to Kissinger: “I’d rather use a nuclear bomb. Have you got that ready?”). By connecting the success of the censorship battle over the Pentagon Papers with Nixon’s creation of the felonous “plumbers,” who were given the job of breaking into the DNC office at the Watergate and the office of Ellsberg’s psychoanalyst, The Most Dangerous Man in America effectively follows one man’s pursuit of a deeply held principle.
There is no denying that the film is well made and has much to teach. However, because Ellsberg is the narrator it doesn’t probe him too deeply; we see the version of himself he wants us to see, without any dissenting viewpoints. Despite that, his story is of great historical value and the fact that a great deal of footage has been assembled and intercut with stage recreations along with Nixon’s White House tapes, makes for an even more interesting document of an important event in American history.
Presented in anamorphic widescreen, the image here is rather good for a film that mixes modern images, with older black and white footage. As is to be expected, some grain is evident in the older material, but it’s nothing that interferes with the viewing experience.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack accomplishes it job very well here, since dialogue makes up all most all of what the fill has to offer. Voices are clear and concise. Closed captioning is available.
Special Features: Interviews with Oscar®-nominated actor Woody Harrelson and Best-selling author Naomi Wolf, The Nixon Tapes (audio highlights from the Oval Office), Ellsberg Today, Filmmaker Biographies.
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