The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
USA 2009, 94 Min., English, Heb. Subtitles
Daniel Ellsberg, a brilliant young man that was asked by Robert McNamara to write a report on the ongoing war in Vietnam (1971), was astonished to find out that five Presidents – from Truman to Nixon – lied to their people in order to justify the continuation of the fighting which took a toll of 2 million Vietnamese dead and 58,000 US soldiers killed. It took him a lot of courage to secretly copy 7,000 pages of Pentagon documents and leak the information to the New York Times. With the government's attempts to prevent this publication, Ellsberg had to scatter this 'treasure' between 17 different newspapers across the USA and in doing so contributed greatly to ending the war; he was trialed for crimes that lead to 115 years of imprisonment. The Oscar nominated film, utilizes excellent archive footage and many interviewees who witnessed the events, primarily Ellsberg himself.
Director: Judith Ehrlich, Rick Goldsmith
Producers: Judith Ehrlich, Rick Goldsmith
Cinematography: Dan Krauss, Vicente Franco
Editing: Michael Chandler, Lawrence Lerew, Rick Goldsmith
Music: Blake Leyh
Previous Festivals: IDFA, TIFF, Oscar nominee 2010
