A new fact emerged around the time "All the President's Men", the groundbreaking journalism classic directed by Alan J. Pakula, was about to celebrate its 30th anniversary of release: in 2005, the enigmatic real man responsible for being the source of information on the Watergate scandal, helping Bob Woodward with powerful information, finally came out of the shadows and revealed that he was the famous Deep Throat and he was Mark Felt, former FBI director (2nd in command, in fact), a news that astonished everybody when the 90-something year-old finally admitted his pivotal in one of the greatest political reports of all time.
Jumping on this band wagon a little later Warner Bros. decided to release a special of the Oscar winning film with plenty of bonus material and among them, there's this interesting documentary talking about Deep Throat's importance as an anonymous source who broke barriers not only in politics but above all in journalism and paved the way for many others who wanted to denounce events, crimes and damaging material in order to instate order and inform people.
The main characters from the story Woodward, Carl Bernstein and Ben Bradlee recollect their events on the period - and thanks to Woodward that on Pakula's film his description of Deep Throat was one of the most significant ever made, Hal Holbrook was the actor chosen for the portrayal and in fact Holbrook resembles Felt a - and there's also the new wave of journalists talking Deep/Felt decisive role in the future years, exposing about the importance of freedom of press (at the time, there were very similar cases of reporters being detained for not revealing the sources of their news in cases that also involved the government). Heck, even Walter Cronkite and Oliver Stone have some moments to enlighten us about the whole affair!
It's a pretty informative documentary, a nice report that shines a light in thought-provoking topics about media, press, the power of information and how the public is also an important part of the process. We need things like this, now more than ever when reliable news and sources are so few that we can't even distinguish fact from fiction. More than just valid sources and people willing to come forward in anonymity but we all need obstinate and dedicated reporters who can check facts, again and again, and revealing only when the times is right.
The only damaging on this short was the presence of a naive author who seems opposed to Deep Throat's actions, he's very critical and thinks he's right in his judgment of things but most of his opinions are annulled when wiser journalists and historians present their views right away, in things they know it's a fact and the naive young guy is just spewing his imagination.
And the only thing that would make this project perfect was Mark Felt's presence. He was still alive at the time but his views on why he acted as a source and other things can only be viewed on other printed medias (we only see pictures of him). I'd really love to see the man exposing his version of the facts on why he became one of the greatest whistle-blowers of all time. Still worth viewing. 9/10
Jumping on this band wagon a little later Warner Bros. decided to release a special of the Oscar winning film with plenty of bonus material and among them, there's this interesting documentary talking about Deep Throat's importance as an anonymous source who broke barriers not only in politics but above all in journalism and paved the way for many others who wanted to denounce events, crimes and damaging material in order to instate order and inform people.
The main characters from the story Woodward, Carl Bernstein and Ben Bradlee recollect their events on the period - and thanks to Woodward that on Pakula's film his description of Deep Throat was one of the most significant ever made, Hal Holbrook was the actor chosen for the portrayal and in fact Holbrook resembles Felt a - and there's also the new wave of journalists talking Deep/Felt decisive role in the future years, exposing about the importance of freedom of press (at the time, there were very similar cases of reporters being detained for not revealing the sources of their news in cases that also involved the government). Heck, even Walter Cronkite and Oliver Stone have some moments to enlighten us about the whole affair!
It's a pretty informative documentary, a nice report that shines a light in thought-provoking topics about media, press, the power of information and how the public is also an important part of the process. We need things like this, now more than ever when reliable news and sources are so few that we can't even distinguish fact from fiction. More than just valid sources and people willing to come forward in anonymity but we all need obstinate and dedicated reporters who can check facts, again and again, and revealing only when the times is right.
The only damaging on this short was the presence of a naive author who seems opposed to Deep Throat's actions, he's very critical and thinks he's right in his judgment of things but most of his opinions are annulled when wiser journalists and historians present their views right away, in things they know it's a fact and the naive young guy is just spewing his imagination.
And the only thing that would make this project perfect was Mark Felt's presence. He was still alive at the time but his views on why he acted as a source and other things can only be viewed on other printed medias (we only see pictures of him). I'd really love to see the man exposing his version of the facts on why he became one of the greatest whistle-blowers of all time. Still worth viewing. 9/10
