Akito HirataReview - Frost/Nixon
May 7th 2009 08:05
Familiar of course with Richard Nixon and Watergate, I was however unfamiliar with David Frost (Michael Sheen) and the interviews which caused so much publicity. And for this reason I gained a lot of enjoyment from the movie as it was a subject which I was not so familiar with. As movies go, I was not so much concerned with the fact that this was or was not 100% true as all biographies or stories seemed to be based on a theme or person these days with much dramatical license taken. It did however seem that the storyline and characterisations were very much solidified in truth and the movie had me gripped for the most part from start to end.
Both the leads were strong as Frost (Frank Langella) and Nixon respectively and they were supported by Sam Rockwell as James Reston Jnr, whose character was largely responsible for showing how Nixon's lies and coverups affected the US public. Both sides had their own staunch supporters and whilst Frost had Reston - the disgraced Nixon had Jack Brennan (Kevin Bacon) who was the ever loyal Republican standing by his side. Ironically, Kevin Bacon grew up in a very liberal left wing household whose family despised Nixon. The movie also starred Matthew Macfadyen and Oliver Platt.
The movie focusses mainly on the British TV personality David Frost who wanted to secure a big interview in order to gain back his favour with the American public after an axed tv show. Putting all of his money and that of others down in order to secure the interview, he took the gamble of taping the interview regardless of the failed interest from any of the tv studios.
"Frost is just not in your intellectual class," Brennan tells Nixon at the outset. However keen to get to the bottom of everything, Frost's team timestakingly researched and constructed questions for Frost to use to interrogate Nixon. But at the start of the interview Frost is no match for Nixon - who was well versed with political speech and how to evade a question regardless of how well prepared it was. In fact the first three interviews failed to reveal anything particularly noteworthy. Three years of silence following Watergate had evidently left Nixon guarded about the whole affair.
Using a staged phonecall between that of Nixon and Frost to build up to the final climactic interview, it succeeds in showing how much both characters had riding on the success of this interview. Throughout the movie neither Frost or Nixon are painted in a particularly good light and in reality, only one person was going to benefit from the result of the interview. And as unfamiliar as I am with American politics, the movie also managed to highlight many similarities to that of Nixon and George Bush.
Frost/Nixon was nominated for a large number of Oscars, BAFTAs, Golden Globes and SAGs for both acting and directing and I for one felt they were highly deserved.
Voyage Review: 4/5
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