All the President's Men

There should be no question how much this film impacted society and will continue as the Watergate scandal and President Nixon resigning is a significant part of our American history.  It will continue to be taught to our children in the history classes for many years to come.  The impact to me was watching the reporters uncover the story piece by piece and seeing how their minds worked and how everyone involved wanted to talk but couldn't.  It's no wonder why politicians still have to prove they are not corrupt as they still have that reputation and there are still quite a few of them that are.  It's not just the politicians though.  It's more of money can buy anything and people who have the power control things, but even thoiugh files were destroyed and there was little evidence in writing, justice again prevailed and I see the theme as everyone eventually gets caught when you do something illegal.  As in Chapter 15 when the film ratings came into play, and the film On the Waterfront had to change its ending because film can't have evil win in the end. 

I would agree the director's obligation in a documentary is to stick to the truth as much as possible and only add "flavor" to the film to keep the audience enticed and engaged throughout the film.  Documentaries can be rather boring.  For instance, if this film was told with just Bernstein and Woodward just sitting in a chair telling the story, it would not have been nearly as interesting.  The director added the additional pieces like with all the department heads talking about what stories they were going to lead with, that helped keep the timing of the film in tact.  Additionally, the setting played a key role in this film as the Washington Post was a big part of the film and the typewriter was used throughout to make the point how significant it was to put this story to the public.  The costumes were also impactful in feeling the timing of the film.

The cinemetography was done well.  The different camera angles used, especially when the cars would pull out of the Washington Post and the arial views were used, providing another view for the audience to feel like they were there with them.  Color was again relatively muted througout, except for the red flag but was appropriate to the film.  The lighting was essential in this film like with the garage scenes with deep throat.  The most significant sound to me in the movie was the typewriter, especially at the end when it typed out the names and what the crimes were for the main people involved.

For me, I typically enjoy the suspense movies and romantic comedies, I would typically stay away from documentaries.  I did however, enjoy watching this film due to the assumed historial facts to it.  The characters did a good job throughout.  Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman are both powerful actors but they worked well together and it was realistic that they could have been journalists.