Heads up from the Unsophisticate

I didn’t get around to writing a full review on this film I was lucky enough to catch at the Sydney film festival but I wanted to tell everyone to go and see ‘The Most Dangerous Man in America’ – it’s an amazing documentary about Daniel Ellsberg a US Defence analyst working at the Pentagon during the Vietnam War. This doco was also a 2010 Academy Award nominee and received several awards at various 2009/2010 film festivals.

Is it better to betray your country or your friends? Most of us won’t find ourselves needing to ponder this question during our lives although we may certainly finding ourselves having to make a call between betraying a friend or a colleague for a greater good or for a bigger cause. It’s an evocative quandary and is the central question Ellsberg wrestled with back in the late 1960s when he was involved in preparing a report on the Vietnam War commissioned by McNamara, the US Defence Secretary at the time. Despite once having been a proponent for the Vietnam war –serving as a strategist and also as a Marine Corp Commander – the burden of the truth becomes too much for him and Ellsberg makes a decision to copy and circulate the reports 47 volumes to the Press (which hence became known as the Pentagon Papers). The events that then unfold are enthralling.

The story is incredibly interesting and has many parallels to the recent Iraq War and the Bush administration. So the conclusions and the questions highlighted are still very relevant to us today. The film is full of great footage from the time, interspersed with some animation to re-enact certain events, as well as recent interviews with Ellsberg, his family members, and other political and media personalities that were involved in the controversy at the time.

For Sydneysiders, it’s playing at the Chauvel, Oxford Street in Paddo and I don’t think it will be there for long so go see it this weekend. Otherwise be sure to add it to your Quickflix/Netflix queue when it comes out!