The political crime of the century in America is covered in details in this special documentary made by BBC, divided in 5 parts, going from the planning of Watergate's break-in up to the final act that led to president Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974. 20 years later of the latter, people who were involved in this affair, in one way or another, whether being part of the invasion or close to it or investigating the case, they all share their personal stories about one of the most notorious political scandals of all time.
It's a fantastic source of research, with plenty of information about everything involving Watergate and its aftermath, with some (at the time) exclusive presentation of facts - such as Nixon's conversations tapes. Praise must be made to the makers of this project (which should be viewed along with Oliver Stone's masterpiece "Nixon", since some events were suppressed or given little importance - the Saturday Night Massacre, rapidly presented but never mentioned by its name given by the media); however, it's not much of an engaging one. Whenever each part is running towards its final moments it gets weary, infatuated with some unimportant facts and very, very prejudicial omissions (Woodward and Bernstein's coverage of the case barely gets mentioned).
If you want facts, has a huge curiosity on the subject, this is a must-see. There's plenty of interesting interviews with John Dean, Gordon Liddy, John Ehrlichman, H.R. Haldeman, Robert Bork, they're all there and even Nixon's interview with David Frost, that later became the basis of movie and play "Frost/Nixon". It presents loads of facts but doesn't play an intrusive part while presenting and analyzing them. It leaves that to the viewers. Documentaries can be good when they do this, without trivializing things or taking a side of the issue. 8/10
It's a fantastic source of research, with plenty of information about everything involving Watergate and its aftermath, with some (at the time) exclusive presentation of facts - such as Nixon's conversations tapes. Praise must be made to the makers of this project (which should be viewed along with Oliver Stone's masterpiece "Nixon", since some events were suppressed or given little importance - the Saturday Night Massacre, rapidly presented but never mentioned by its name given by the media); however, it's not much of an engaging one. Whenever each part is running towards its final moments it gets weary, infatuated with some unimportant facts and very, very prejudicial omissions (Woodward and Bernstein's coverage of the case barely gets mentioned).
If you want facts, has a huge curiosity on the subject, this is a must-see. There's plenty of interesting interviews with John Dean, Gordon Liddy, John Ehrlichman, H.R. Haldeman, Robert Bork, they're all there and even Nixon's interview with David Frost, that later became the basis of movie and play "Frost/Nixon". It presents loads of facts but doesn't play an intrusive part while presenting and analyzing them. It leaves that to the viewers. Documentaries can be good when they do this, without trivializing things or taking a side of the issue. 8/10