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'Truth' is worth seeing for Cate Blanchett's firebrand performance

( R ) ( Monitor Movie Guide )

'Truth' stars Robert Redford as Dan Rather and Blanchett as former CBS News producer Mary Mapes. It follows CBS News's reporting of then-President George W. Bush’s murkily documented Vietnam-era career in the Air National Guard.

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Lisa Tomasetti/Sony Pictures Classics/AP
'Truth' stars Robert Redford.
  • By Peter Rainer Film critic

"Truth,” written and directed by James Vanderbilt, is a bristling newsroom drama based on the book by former CBS News producer Mary Mapes titled – take a deep breath – “Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power.” The film has the same high-minded tone as that title. Set in election year 2004, it’s about CBS News’s reporting of then-President George W. Bush’s murkily documented Vietnam-era career in the Air National Guard. Because of sloppy sourcing, Mapes and Dan Rather, who fronted the account on air, were ultimately both sent packing.

The film basically upholds the verity of the news story while not condoning the sloppiness, and it’s worth seeing mostly for Cate Blanchett’s firebrand performance as Mapes, a battler consumed by righteousness. As Rather, Robert Redford, who looks nothing like him, at least makes you forget he’s Redford. Grade: B (Rated R for language, brief nude photo.)

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