Frost/Nixon (2008, USA)

There’s a moment near the very end of Frost/Nixon that sums up most of my problems with the film (and to spoil you – Nixon was totally guilty!). Just after the interviews have been taped and aired, one of the characters, in an interview segment filmed as if Frost/Nixon were a documentary, describes in detail how the medium of television is able to show Nixon’s guilt in a way that his recorded words alone could not.

My answer to this is pretty much . . . duh? I mean, what would be the point of making this film if this ultimate truth of medium and message weren’t patently obvious? As usual, Ron Howard tells instead of shows – or, rather, he does both, over and over again. Maybe it’s not all his fault – Peter Morgan’s screenplay, from his stage play, could have originated the problem – but, as usual, I find Howard’s film incredibly broad. Why not let audiences figure some things out for themselves?