The Most Movie Review,
As “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” begins, a sonorous voice describes American actions during the Vietnam War. It sounds a bit like that of Peter Coyote, a frequent narrator of documentaries with a liberal bent. Then the voice says “I,” and you realize that it’s Daniel Ellsberg, narrating his own story.
There’s no doubt where “Dangerous” stands when it comes to Mr. Ellsberg, the man who leaked the secret history of the war, known as the Pentagon Papers, to newspapers, including The New York Times. On the spectrum from heroic patriot to craven traitor, this detailed, clearly told and persuasive film, directed by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, is firmly on the side of heroic. It conscientiously notes the viewpoints of those who believe that Mr. Ellsberg betrayed his country or his colleagues at the RAND Corporation, which prepared the report. But when the two sides are represented by the formidably intelligent, reasoned, now grandfatherly tones of Mr. Ellsberg on the one hand, and the taped, heavily bleeped rants of President Richard M. Nixon on the other, it’s not much of a contest.
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