“The Post” Teaser
The Post is an upcoming period piece set for a limited American release on December 13, 2017, and in wide release on January 12, 2018. Based on a true story, it focuses on how The New York Times and The Washington Post (emphasizing on the latter) released the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War and subsequently fought the federal government in court.
The teaser, told in brief flashes, fleshes out the main points of the story: 7,000 pages of classified government papers have gone missing, and the newspapers get the chance to publish them.
“Is that legal?” one younger reporter asks.
Editor Ben Bradlee, played here by Tom Hanks, looks cheeky as he rolls up his sleeve. “What is it that you think we do here for a living, kid?”
Aside from Hanks’ Bradlee, the main character is Kay Graham, the Post’s first female publisher, played by Meryl Streep. Already facing a degree of sexism for her position, she now has a difficult ethical dilemma when the government orders the paper to cease publishing the confidential information. If they refuse, then the Nixon Administration will bring them all the way to the Supreme Court.
Graham has a stark choice: does she have the paper proceed with publishing the Pentagon Papers, despite the government’s legal action, at the risk of going to jail and losing the business? As she notes in one scene, it may be their obligation to get the truth out there, but they can hardly do that if the Nixon Administration manages to just shut them down anyway.
Set during a difficult time in the United States’ history, The Post promises to show the tough choices and bravery that let truth shine forth against power and corruption. Post stars Alison Brie . Tom Hanks. Sarah Paulson. Bruce Greenwood and Meryl Streep
