Film Review — The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers

After his father fell asleep at the wheel, causing the deaths of his mother and sister, Daniel Ellsberg learned at an early age that authority figures are not infallible, and their trust must be gained just like anyone else: through action. This event early in the life of the future Pentagon policy analyst coincided with the decision to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by a President he had previously admired unequivocally. Ironically, as Ellsberg would discover later on, it was the Truman presidency that also began the deleterious domino affect that was the American involvement in Southeast Asia which, continued escalating in secrecy with each of the four subsequent Presidents.

The new documentary by co-writer/directors Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith The Most Dangerous Man in America lays out with impeccable attention to detail Ellsberg's transition from former marine and dutiful war-hawk under the Johnson administration to whistleblower and outspoken war-critic during the Nixon administration. The film's scope also encompasses the unintended affects of the eventual successful release of the Pentagon Papers, including the desperation and inevitable resignation of President Nixon.

An import from the RAND Corporation, a foreign policy think-tank where he learned to critically analyze all kinds of wartime scenarios, Ellsberg's first day on the job at the Pentagon in 1964 entailed the chaotic Gulf of Tonkin incident where he first discovered the extent to which information can be manicured by the executive branch, outside of the public's knowledge in order to escalate a conflict. Before the disaster of the Tet Offensive, the doubtful Secretary of Defense Robert McNamera ordered from Ellsberg's team in the Pentagon a detailed history of America's involvement in Vietnam without the knowledge of the President. This sprawling, multi-volume analysis became the famed Pentagon Papers.

Especially for anyone unfamiliar with this generation, the filmmakers clearly insist on this story being an essential part of one's understanding of this critical period in American history where the nation's experiment in democracy was put to the ultimate test. Long a hero for defenders of the First Amendment, Daniel Ellsberg reveals in the film the personal struggles he and his loved ones went through to follow their conscience and protect their right to free speech in order to keep the American public well-informed.

Aesthetically the film does little to dazzle the senses like some other higher budget Oscar-nominated documentaries from this past year — The Cove had its mesmerizing score and Food, Inc. made your stomach churn at the thought of what it had been consuming all these years — but emotionally charged interviews mixed with expertly edited archive footage, priceless tape recordings and helpful recreations makes The Most Dangerous Man an indispensable topical film on par with Errol Morris' The Fog of War (2003). With the decade's beginning of yet another seemingly endless Asian conflict (on the bright side, it's only spanned two presidents so far) one hopes we won't have to rely on a modern day Daniel Ellsberg to pull us back from the brink of oblivion.