129. Mark Felt - The Man Who Brought Down The White House; movie review

MARK FELT - THE MAN WHO BROUGHT DOWN THE WHITE HOUSE
Cert 12A
103 mins
BBFC advice: Contains infrequent strong language

Surely, everything about the Watergate scandal has been said, hasn't it?
Well, not quite. The thirst for intrigue surrounding the Nixon White House has thrown up two movies in 2018 and it's only March.
Hot on the heels of Steven Spielberg's superb The Post, which offers a prequel to Watergate, comes Peter Landesman's film about the Deep Throat who fed information which, ultimately, led to Nixon's resignation.
Mark Felt (Liam Neeson) was long-standing deputy to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover who died shortly before the scandal broke.
Landesman's film focuses on the bureau, the clumsy attempts by the White House to wrestle control of it and Felt's one-man backlash.
In parallel, he examines Felt's home life, the disappearance of his daughter Joan and his attempts to track her down under pressure from his wife (Diane Lane).
After a string of predictable action movies, this is a welcome reminder that Neeson has more to his repertoire than jumping from trains.
As the tactically astute Felt, he is quietly unflappable and unyielding despite the seismic events which are happening around him.
Felt's steely defence of the bureau comes in the face of intense pressure from "Nixon's men" including the interim FBI director (Marton Csokas) and the White House counsel (Michael C. Hall).
In addition to the drama played out by his cast,  Landesman uses archive footage of Nixon pronouncements to add to the impact.
He also weaves in, but does not lean on, the more famous elements of the All The Presidents Men story such as the meeting between Washington Post journalist, Bob Woodward (Julian Morris) and Deep Throat in an underground car park.
It took more than 30 years before Felt finally confirmed suspicions that he was Deep Throat. It is a shame that he has now died so cannot comment on the veracity of Landesman's film.
Nevertheless, it is worth watching because it adds the final piece to the most complex political jigsaws in American history.
And, of course, it is all the more interesting because of the political landscape of 2018 and the parallels with 1973.

Reasons to watch: A new take on the Watergate story
Reasons to avoid: Needs background knowledge

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: Partial
Overall rating: 7.5/10

Director quote - Peter Landesman - "Felt became to me an object of honour. I related personally to all of this and owe him the debt of his story. We all do."

The big question: What was Richard Nixon thinking?

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