Film review: Truth – Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford shine in journalistic drama

Movie uses story of events that foreshadowed the resignation of veteran US news anchor Dan Rather from CBS in 2006 to explore the decline of mainstream investigative journalism

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Cate Blanchett as Mary Mapes and Robert Redford as Dan Rather in Truth (category IIB). The James Vanderbilt film also stars Dennis Quaid.

Published: 12:00pm, 20 Apr 2016Updated: 1:33pm, 20 Apr 2016

3.5/5 stars

One of Robert Redford’s occasional forays into political filmmaking, this small-scale drama is packed with ideas. The decline of investigative journalism due to corporate disinterest, the rise of “infotainment”, and the power of the establishment to disrupt and manipulate the news gathering process are just some of the issues it addresses.

Truth depicts the events that foreshadowed the resignation of US news anchor Dan Rather (Redford) from CBS in 2006. It revolves around CBS 60 Minutes Wednesday journalist Mary Mapes’ (Cate Blanchett) discovery of documents that pointed to the fact that George W. Bush had received preferential treatment during his time in the National Guard.

Blanchett and Redford deliver fine performances in a film that is likely to mean most to American viewers.

Mapes and her team reported the story, which Rather presented. But when media scrutiny of the documents put their authenticity in question, Rather had to apologise on television for covering the story, and CBS fired Mapes, who previously won acclaim for her story of the Abu Ghraib scandal.

Director James Vanderbilt, who wrote the script, works hard to present all the angles to the controversy, and allows the network to put forward the notion of shoddy journalism by its staff.