Impressions from TIFF: The Most Dangerous Man in America

Links: TIFF site, IMDB

I attended a press & industry screening of this documentary. (My volunteer reward vouchers give access to these insider screenings that are not available to the public--a very nice perk. As an aside, P&I screenings are a completely different experience compared to public screenings. Everybody is there to work, not necessarily to "enjoy" the film, so it's totally lacking in energy. For example, Suck was also a press screening, and I heard maybe two people laughing. I'm
sure that there would have been a much bigger reaction at a public show.)

The film is about Daniel Ellsberg, a government official who, during the Vietnam War, leaked some top secret Pentagon documents (the "Pentagon Papers") that proved that the war was based on government lies. Americans probably know the history of the event, but ignorant Canadian that I am, I was not familiar with it. So on one level, I enjoyed the movie as a history lesson. But what really drove the film for me was Ellsberg's personality. (He narrates the film and is seen throughout in the typical talking head interviews.) When he speaks, you can tell that
he's absolutely committed to doing the right thing. More than that, he followed his words with actions--actions that put his own freedom at risk. I have great respect for this, and I think that he is a true hero.

On the negative side, I thought they overdid the portrayal of Nixon as a bad, bad man. The repeated use of sound clips of Nixon saying vulgar and awful things almost came off as unintentionally funny because it was so on the nose. (E.g. someone in an interview would say something like, "Surely, the government would not do XYZ." Then it would cut to a tape of Nixon saying "By God, we better goddamn do XYZ to those sons of bitches.") I would have preferred a little more subtlety. Minor criticisms aside, this was a very fascinating doc.

3.5 out of 5