I had the pleasure of watching “The Post,” a film directed by Steven Spielberg starring Meryl Streep (“Sufragette”) and Tom Hanks (“Saving Mr. Banks”) .

“The Post” begins in the 1960s with Daniel Ellsberg, a researcher who visited Vietnam with the president to check on the progress of the war. Ellsberg was asked to lie and tell reporters that the United States had been very successful in its war efforts and should continue to send more soldiers overseas. Ellsberg was flabbergasted at the government’s dishonesty and decided to release a series of documents called the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times, depicting knowledge that Vietnam was a lost cause. Regardless of how many soldiers we sent overseas, the United States would lose the war. The New York Times and Washington Post were asked to stop publishing and attend a hearing at the Supreme Court for releasing confidential government information, but both newspapers won the case. The court concluded that “news should be for benefit of the governed, not the government.” The film ended with a security agent calling the FBI with a tip that there had been a  break-in  at  the  Democratic National Convention.

I can see why people have been raving about it. Its discussion of issues such as freedom of the press remain poignant, and the actors accurately portrayed the bravery and honesty displayed by reporters of The New York Times and Washington Post. Meryl Streep spoke slowly and you could even hear a crack in her voice when she gave the editors permission to publish the Pentagon Papers regardless of the consequences. She reasoned that the Washington Post has a commitment to its readers to publish the truth.

Steven Spielberg had no hesitation about the timing of the film. While certain rhetoric gives evidence to distaste for the press on the hill, and with the overflow of media we receive we have to be more discerning. There is still hesitation to publish important information in papers, and this can have detrimental consequences. I found “The Post” captivating and relevant; it’s a great movie to see with your family.