Film Evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Film Evaluation - Essay Example What is Nixon guilty of? The film uses multiple perspectives to question his military strategies in Vietnam and Cambodia and, of course, the break-in to the Watergate hotel office of the Democratic Party and the subsequent cover up. Audiences see Frost and Reston, a researcher representing liberal criticism of Nixon’s foreign and domestic policy, using these interviews as a mock trial for Nixon. Nixon’s camp views the interviews as a re-election campaign, a fence mending expedition, and a path back to the East and the Capital beltway, which I didn’t realize before watching this film. During the interview process, Frost and Nixon’s interview-prep teams act like campaign advisors and spin doctors. The film reveals a Nixon whose political ambition soothed an ego, who stretched past the judicial limits of executive privilege. Nixon, who was granted a full pardon by President Ford, discusses his conflicts with the bipartisan Congress and Media and his frustrati on with the American checks and balances system. The film becomes as much about exploring Nixon’s feeling that what he did was â€Å"wrong,† but paradoxically not â€Å"wrong† because he did it as president as about the influence of American media as a fourth branch, a watchdog of American democracy and political transparency. II: Analysis of Political Ideas Conveyed within Frost/Nixon As the film opens, Director Howard and Writer Morgan expose viewers to a plethora of media clippings from nightly news programs, presidential interviews and public events, the formal Watergate hearings, and the voice of the average citizen. While these clippings provide background information and certainly provide urgency and interest in this cinematic event, they oversimplify the complex, elongated task of these revelations and impeachment process. One of the main criticisms of this film deal with the compression of time and boiled down simplification of the steps and factors cul minating in Nixon’s resignation. In a 2009 article, Reston himself commented: â€Å"For that televised interview in 1977, four hours of interrogation had been boiled down to 90 minutes. For the stage and screen, this history has been compressed a great deal more, into something resembling a comedic tragedy† (para. 5). The issues of the historical veracity of almost every step of this screenwriting process and cinematic manipulation has become an ongoing, contentious issue among political journalists and pundits. The ethics of the original interview put David Frost, his camp, and media itself on trial within this film and questions the unbiased nature of Frost’s interviews. The first segment of Frost/Nixon focuses on Frost and Nixon dancing around each other as Frost attempts to raise funds to secure an interview with Nixon as well as find a reputable network to air the interviews. Yet, as I previously did not know, all the established networks scoff at Frostâ₠¬â„¢s party image and lack of political expertise and refuse to be involved or lend their credibility to support Frost’s initiative. Specifically, the networks refer to their policy not to pay for interviews while Nixon’s Hollywood agent is requiring a staggering 600,000 dollars, 200, 000 of which must be up front for an afternoon exploratory meeting. The angle on the Frost’s first scribbled check to Nixon sheds light upon both Frost and Nixon’