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Written by Mark Reed
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Friday, 30 January 2009
An intellectual prize fight amongst giants.
As with any historical film, it should exist within the context of history only because the history dictates the circumstances. What is perhaps exciting is that this film is set in our recent history, and much of this is within our own memories. Recently, I've watched the original Frost/Nixon interviews on DVD and read the book with the interview transcripts (a mere fraction of time before I realised the film was being made), and having the knowledge compliments but also complicates the film, because you know in advance how the story will unfold.
As a film though, this expands upon the original stageplay and interviews with a backstory that effectively, quickly sets the scene of the time and the two named protagonists : a ruined, broke ex-President facing a lifetime of silent mockery, and a slight talk show host desperate to be taken seriously. Both set themselves up in an intellectual prize fight, a war of words, where Frost thinks he can tackle a lawyer-turned-President with glib charm... and realises he's being quietly outclassed by a man who sees him as a cash cow. Frost needs a confession, Nixon needs the money and the two play cat-and-mouse over two hours until the final climatic denouement that would be surprising in drama ; let alone real life.
The main thrust of the story comes in the getting there, the fraught last minute negotiations with an endless series of names to try and tump up the finances, as Frost puts everything on the line as his professional life crumbles around him.
Langella sounds like Nixon, but doesn't look like him. However, he captures the essence of the man in a few ever have - Hopkins didn't look like him either, but both channelled Nixon and made him real. Langellas Nixon is human, flawed, real, a fallen idealist, a man who compromised and in the process destroyed everything he thought he stood for - who strove for what he felt was a lie to serve the greater good and undid all the truth in his heart - and is now a shadow of what he once was as a result, seeking a redemption, a historical reappraisal as a man who did well but failed, whereas Frost wants him to confess to being the bogeyman who shattered a generations faith in democracy and authority.
The problem with Michael Sheen is whomever he plays, he looks like Tony Blair to me. So iconic was his role in The Queen, he may never ever step out of the shadow of that.
In the meantime, the rest of the supporting cast yank the narrative out of the present with a series of 'after the fact' fictional interviews : these reduce the flow of the film from a as-it-happens drama to a history lesson, and I'm sure with some careful plotting those lines could've been weaved into a contemporary narrative.
In the end, Frost/Nixon is a verbal prize fight between an underdog risking everything and a fallen king seeking one last victory, a battle of wills between a man exiting and a man entering... a must for anyone with an interest in intelligent film-making and powerful drama that does not preach and allows the viewer to make up their own mind.Only registered users can write comments.
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