Frost/Nixon (DVD)

This is the only movie that reminded me that maybe, just maybe, Richard Nixon was as human as all those who opposed him and despised his scandalous candor. “Frost/Nixon” takes you back to when David Frost (Michael Sheen) pulled off what no one believed he could–the only interview that gave the American people what they deserved to hear since the Watergate scandal. Short of an apology, Nixon (Frank Langella) finally admitted that he “let the country down… let the American People down.”

Langella delivers a very compelling role with Nixon’s character, making you unsure of the former president. I couldn’t decide if I’d love to hate him (Nixon) or hate to love him.

Oliver Platt delivers a subtly outsanding performance of Robert “Bob” Zelnick whose career depended on the outcome of this provocative and revealing interview. James Reston, Jr. (Sam Rockwell), a very passionate and informed activist who wanted nothing but to get Nixon to break down in front of the cameras and in front of the American viewers, wasn’t as concerned with his reputation as he was about Nixon’s. John Birt (Frost’s most intimate ally through the process) took a big plunge as well. Fearing (since the onset of Frost’s proposal) that no one in British media would ever again take his work seriously after the foreseeable nosedive of the great interview, he hesitantly humored Frost as he seemed just as curious about Nixon’s intentions to withhold apologies.

Nevertheless, Frost, Birt, Zelnick, and Reston chanced their careers for a very unpopular project–a project that wasn’t selling beforehand but was immediately successful at doing what it was meant to do… delivering Nixon in his most humble and vulnerable state of statesmanship.

Rent the movie, get a feel for what you might’ve missed out on in history, and look up the actual interviews to see how Nixon forever changed the presidency.

Four stars PLUS!