'Dangerous' Liaisons

Went to see "The Most Dangerous Man in America" at the Film Forum on Thursday night, Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith's documentary about Daniel Ellsberg, who faced espionage charges and possible life in prison after leaking the so-called Pentagon Papers to newspapers back in 1971. For those who don't remember, Ellsberg's leaking -- first to The New York Times and then to more than a dozen others -- of the RAND Corp's 7,000-page classified report outlining the true extent of U.S. involvement in Vietnam set in motion both the end of Nixon presidency and the Vietnam War. The film's generous use of Richard Nixon's audio tapes ("I just say we've got to keep our on the main ball. The main ball is Ellsberg. We've got to get this son-of-a-bitch" -- you really can't make someone like him up) and newsreels are fascinating stuff, and offset some of the personal details about Ellsberg that are considerably less interesting. It's ironic that many feel Ellsberg's charisma made the whole incident a much bigger story than it might have been -- he was a darling on talk shows in the 1970s -- yet he comes across as so boring and monotone in interviews now. (I'm also not big on lionizing people who are in bed with the devil and then become whistle-blowers. Sure, it's better than staying the bad guy. But I'd rather look up to people who were for doing the right thing all along.)

   Although we've long heard about the parallels between Vietnam and the war in Iraq, I can't tell you how many times I involuntarily threw my arms up in the air as I watched a liar of a president get re-elected during wartime even AFTER the U.S. population found out the truth about the deception going on at the highest levels of the executive branch. (And the vindictiveness! I'm sure it's just a matter of time before we find out Karl Rove ordered the break-in of Ambassador Joe Wilson's psychologist's office, assuming he had one. And who wouldn't need one after all he went through?)

   While they interview a couple of the editors at The Times who handled this scoop of the century (so sensitive was the story that they had to move the people working on it out of the newsroom and into a hotel room nearby), it was very disappointing not to hear from Neil Sheehan, the reporter Ellsberg turned everything over to. (That would have been something.) It was such a gaping hole in the story that I assumed he had died, but then happened to read in today's Times that he's actually alive and well. Of course, getting him to sit down for the camera may have been easier said than done: it seems these days he keeps KIT212 hours and has been busy writing his new book ... for the last 15 years!

My grade: B

Wait for the DVD. The subject matter is so mesmerizing you'll overlook the film's shortcomings.