Steven Spielberg’s The Post is concerned with historical lies and hidden truths that are all too relevant today. Stewart Gardiner exposes the words behind the fiction.
By Stewart Gardiner // Steven Spielberg’s The Post is a quiet classic with a lot to say. Quiet because Spielberg has used all of his considerable craftsmanship to let the material speak for itself. Much to say, since not only is the story of the Pentagon Papers an important historic moment between the press and the US administration, but is sadly all too relevant today.
This makes for a spectacular movie, but it’s one that won’t be winning its way through all of awards season, particularly the Oscars. If this was the 1970s then perhaps it would be a different story. For make no mistake, this is a seventies picture through and through.
Neue Helvetica
The Post was an attention grabber from the outset. Spielberg’s current form on historical dramas is unbeatable; two genuine movie stars in Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks; timely subject matter. However, the presentation of the film has gone somewhat against the grain. The beautifully minimalist poster design is appealing in different ways than one would have expected. The utilitarian typeface Neue Helvetica is used on the posters and indeed in the movie’s titles. Not only that, but the posters don’t tuck the type away; it is very much up front and center, a key visual identifier for The Post. For those of us who are concerned and fascinated by type, it is difficult not to consider how the presentation of words interacts with the work itself.
Helvetica, like that other enduring 20th century sans-serif classic Futura, is often criticized for being overused. Which is true, but that doesn’t mean it should never be used. There’s a reason that these typefaces endure, because when used well they still feel fresh. Helvetica is a great communicator, its boldly utilitarian form remains relevant today and is appealing in its utilitarianism.
In a film concerned with the words that are presented to the world – written truths, spoken lies, and everything in between – it seems natural that the delivery system of words should be given a major role.
Swiss Style
The minimalism and the type feels of a time both before and after the seventies. Which would seem to mirror how the story points back (to earlier US administrations) and forward (to the current administration). The Post deals with a moment in history, a focal point, with much of the action of which it is about having already taken place. The American people had been lied to about the Vietnam war for many years and The New York Times then The Washington Post worked tirelessly to bring the truths to light. Serious newspaper journalism must be allowed to continue to challenge, but in these dangerous times it is once again under attack.
The main poster, adapted for the cover of the score and presumably the home video release, employs Swiss style design principles and as such has a classic modernist graphic design feel about it. Streep and Hanks have their backs towards the onlooker and are dwarfed against the lines of the concrete steps. The actors’ surnames appear at the top of the poster, in large point sizes, yet the background has been allowed to bleed through. They’re people up against the almost monolithic power of the US government. “A Steven Spielberg Film” neatly sits above the title, which is cut in a smaller point size than the headline actors, but is punched out of white, making it bolder. Sitting into the white edge at the foot of the poster makes the title part of the frame, thus pulling together all elements within.
The graphic design looks effortless, which may be the point rather than the actuality.
Something More Utilitarian
Spielberg certainly makes it all look effortless. He dispenses with call-to-attention directorial flourishes for something more utilitarian, which makes the marketing design seem all the more appropriate. There’s a purity about the storytelling and the cinematography. It’s there in every shot and all through the edit. The dialogue and acting – both magnificent – are allowed room to breathe.
Like Munich (surely the most underrated masterpiece in Spielberg’s oeuvre), it won’t sweep the Oscars precisely because it doesn’t call attention to itself in a certain awards-focused manner. Munich was a seventies thriller and so is The Post, albeit a different sort of thriller. People talk in rooms throughout The Post and it is absolutely riveting. Perhaps the success of Ben Affleck’s Argo some years ago might point to a different Oscars outcome. But Argo did have a Hollywood element to its story and the Academy simply cannot resist a movie about movies.
Right Techniques for the Material
Spielberg’s craft is up there with the finest directors in cinema history. He doesn’t need to show off and appropriates the right techniques for the material. In The Post the camera is almost anonymous, letting the story play out. One might think of the camera set-ups of a Howard Hawks rather than a Hitchcock (no key moment dolly zooms in this picture), although there’s more pace to the editing than in Hawks. Again, it has that seventies feel. Even though the 1970s saw a break away from the deteriorating studio system, many key filmmakers nevertheless evoked the best of the studio directors in their approach. Consider the cinematic classicism of The Godfather against the French New Wave riffing of Bonnie and Clyde; yet both of those still manage to typify the period.
However this is not 1970s Hollywood. Times have changed and there are unfortunately far fewer mid-budget adult-skewing pictures being made. On the plus side, the void has been filled by prestige dramas on television. So beyond the top billed movie stars Streep and Hanks, where did Spielberg turn to cast many of the other key roles? Television of course. Bob Odenkirk of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul turns in another nuanced performance, as does Mad Men’s Alison Brie, albeit in a smaller role. Bradley Whitford, ever excellent, of course made a name for himself on The West Wing. One of the finest actors working today, Carrie Coon stunned each and every moment she appeared on screen in The Leftovers and it is wonderful to see her deliver the same magic here; put her own screen and she lights it up. Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks are magnificent and so are their co-stars. As ensembles go, The Post is hard to beat.
Like That of an Anonymous Source
John Williams “envisioned his contribution to be like that of an anonymous source,” Spielberg writes in the liner notes to the soundtrack, “giving the film weight without bearing any, and stirring the audience’s sense of justice without leading the story.” It’s a beautifully minimal score and Spielberg’s words could also be used to describe the graphic design accompanying the picture, and indeed his own approach to the material. The Post itself is anything but anonymous, even if those who made it kept to the shadows.