Best Actress in a Leading Role 2017: Meryl Streep in The Post

Meryl Streep received her twenty-first nomination for her performance as Katharine Graham in The Post.

The Post is a fine enough movie about the Washington Post journalists and their struggle to publish the Pentagon Papers in 1971. It's a fairly enjoyable film that I did not mind watching though at the same time I can't say I found it to be anything notable either. It shares the same problems I have with some of Spielberg's recent movies (though here I think they are especially evident): it's quite dated and uninventive in its style and suffers from a rather overbearing score. The strength of the movie mostly comes from the fact that its two main themes, the importance of freedom of press and the struggle of women to make their voices heard, are extremely timely and relevant nowadays and its quite interesting to draw comparisons between the social and political situation of 1971 and our contemporary one. 

Meryl Streep plays Katharine Graham, the owner and publisher of The Washington Post. Though it's common nowadays to deem her as a somewhat overrated actress, and I'd agree that some of her Oscar nominations are a bit of a stretch, I think Streep is an immensely talented actress that can make technical and calculated acting feel effortless and sincere. Her performance in The Post is rather peculiar as it's one of her least mannered performances and it feels incredibly restrained, especially if compared to her recently nominated performances (Florence Foster Jenkins, Into the Woods, August: Osage County, The Iron Lady). It's a role that required perhaps a less extreme physical transformation for Streep, but the way she disappears into the character is still incredibly impressive in a low-key fashion: she slightly alters her usual tone of voice to resemble Graham's and she also adjusts her accent a little bit - it's very subtle vocal work but if you watch an interview of Graham her similarity is quite astounding. Moreover, she imbues her portrayal of Graham with a great degree of grace and elegance fitting to a person of Graham's wealth and status while showing beautifully an underlying insecurity in her behavior. Her whole life, Graham had been accustomed to being a wife, a mother and a great host for parties but not being at the head of the paper: her own father gave it to Graham's husband, and she inherited it only after her husband's tragic suicide. Streep conveys the history of the character brilliantly through her performance: when she has to meet the bank's representatives, she feels awkward and out-of-the-place (and she conveys this feeling so well through brilliant, almost unnoticeable small gestures) and often leaves the big decisions up to other members of the board. What's particularly moving is that Streep conveys so well Graham's constant humiliation as she often feels undermined by every person around her but also shows how she has passively accepts the role that society has decided for her - simply because she doesn't know any different. But she also shows that there is a great potential in her and she brings cleverness and wit to the part.

Once The New York Times publishes an article denouncing the content of the Pentagon Papers and the subsequent injunction against further publication from it, Graham and the team of journalists of The Washington Post have to make a difficult choice: if they help the truth get out, they will have to face the threat of criminal charges. Streep is terrific at portraying her character's inner turmoil with incredible expressiveness yet remarkable subtlety: even at the beginning, where she is initially dismissive of the whole situation, she effectively conveys Graham's awereness of the scale of the situation. The situation forces her to reconsider her whole life: on one hand, by publishing the papers, she would expose the lies of people that she considers friends, such as Robert McNamara (Bruce Greenwood, reliably strong); on the other hand, she'd have to take an active step against the members of the board who are against the idea. Streep does an absolutely amazing job at conveying the growing confidence of Graham, who uncovers her conscience and slowly starts to realize that her opinion matters. She realizes the personal growth of her character beautifully, carefully showing how scene by scene she grows more and more self-assured. She is great in her scene opposite Greenwood in which she shows both the genuine guilt she feels for denouncing his mistakes but also the inner convintion that she is doing the right thing and her unwillingness to give up her search for truth. Her acting in the phone call, in which she agrees to the publishment of the papers, is amazing as she conveys so well the doubt and uncertainty of Graham but also her courage that leads to make the choice.

Over the course of the movie, Streep shares many scenes with Tom Hanks, who plays journalist Ben Bradlee. Unfortunately, I found Hanks' performance to be far too mannered and overcooked to truly work and his chemistry with Streep is not especially strong due to his performance's shortcomings: nonetheless, Streep is unaffected by this - perhaps the whole movie would have worked better with two great performances at its center, but her performance is always utterly captivating from beginning to end. Her greatest moments come towards the end: her tearful speech to her daughter (Alison Brie) in which she reminisces the grief after her husband's suicide while also reflecting on how she has been always looked down at, even by the people she loved, as if she weren't worthy of her position, is an outstanding moment acted to perfection by Streep who couldn't have been more heartfelt and devastating. But her best moment is the one in which she finally defies all of the board members, claiming her authority as the owner of The Washington Post and refusing to be silenced by them: it's an empowering, brilliant moment that feels completely earned by Streep who brings a terrific closure to Graham's journey of self-discovery and self-realization.

While The Post is overall a rather standard movie, Meryl Streep's leading performance is anything but. It's one of the most layered, rich and complex performances she has ever given and she portrays impeccably Graham's transition into an independent, strong-willed woman. It's a beautiful performance full of powerful moments and, ultimately, she is the only reason why the movie isn't instantly forgettable. A subtle, fantastic achievement. 

5/5