Daily Mirror

Pressing on for victory

- With CHRIS HUNNEYSETT Twitter @ChrisHunne­ysett

Steven Spielberg delivers another first-class parcel of entertainm­ent with this real-life political thriller. A prelude to the 1972 Watergate scandal, it sees a newspaper uncover damning evidence that the US government knew from a very early stage the Vietnam War could not be won.

Known as the Pentagon Papers, President Richard Nixon demands the documents remain classified informatio­n and goes to war with the press.

Tom Hanks stars as Ben Bradlee, defiant editor of The Washington Post. He makes a great double act with Meryl Streep, who stars as Kay Graham, his inexperien­ced socialite publisher. Together they risk their careers, prison, and the newspaper to defend their constituti­onal rights.

And it’s Streep who owns the film, delicately essaying a woman slowly recognisin­g the iron lady within herself.

Having won Oscars for lesser performanc­es, such as her portrait of Margaret Thatcher, it’s astonishin­g the threetimes Academy Awards winner has missed out on the big gongs so far this season. With Spielberg’s 31st full theatrical feature being such a marvellous­ly assured affair, it’s all too easy to take the maestro’s elegant filmmaking for granted.

Elevating a straightfo­rward script and setting about his business with diligence and well-honed economy, the world’s greatest living director calls on his years of expertise and craftsmans­hip to create a timely call to arms against unaccounta­ble governance.

And under the cover of the macho posturing between the White House and the press, Spielberg and his team smuggle in a quietly rousing and inspiratio­nal account of female empowermen­t and self-awareness.

A nomination for the Producers Guild of America for best film tells us this is still in the running for the biggest Academy Award, and on Oscar night there’s no reason why this thoroughbr­ed can’t be first past the post.

Since 1949, no one has won the Best Director Oscar without first being nominated for the Directors Guild of America Best Director award. This is great news for Brits Christophe­r Nolan and Martin McDonagh – of Dunkirk and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri fame – two of five nominees for the DGA’s top gong this year.

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