Truth

In an age of such rampant two-party political divisiveness, truth certainly is in the eye of the beholder. And so a film about the 2004 scandal over a CBS News story questioning the military record of George W. Bush that led to the downfall of longtime anchor Dan Rather will have plenty of supporters and detractors who haven’t even seen it.

And that’s the primary point of Truth, that political influence and corporate greed interfere with journalistic integrity, leaving those who report the news as sacrificial lambs. It’s a well acted and consistently compelling indictment of the media landscape that compensates for a heavy-handed tone with a relatively even-handed approach.

The film tracks the downfall of Rather (Robert Redford) and award-winning “60 Minutes” producer Mary Mapes (Cate Blanchett) surrounding the on-air claims during an election cycle that Bush received preferential treatment in order to avoid military duty in Vietnam. They think their report is based on solid research and credible interviewees, only to have other news organizations (whose motives are open for interpretation) poke holes in the report after the fact. That forces executives to scramble to save face, and it puts the jobs of Mapes and her team on the line.

Truth is best when probing the newsroom behind the scenes, from the news-gathering process to the difficult editing decisions to the double-checking with sources and consultants.

The screenplay by James Vanderbilt (Zodiac), who also makes his directorial debut, stumbles by hypocritically preaching about objectivity and fairness without sufficiently taking its protagonists to task for their shortcuts or acknowledging the severity of their errors. There are plenty of nagging questions that remain unanswered.

Despite well-rounded performances by Blanchett and Redford, the film too easily turns both Mapes and Rather into sympathetic figures, although their loyalty to one another in such a cutthroat business is touching. Such sanctimony is expected, but not warranted, since it’s based on Mapes’ book and tells the story through her eyes.

Still, the film provokes an intriguing discussion of how politics and big business have changed the risks and angles that news organizations take, with the truth getting lost in the shuffle. When Mapes rants about critics with outside agendas becoming fixated on irrelevancies in order to discredit the report, she has a good point. Regardless of party affiliation, it’s only gotten worse in the 11 years since.

Rated R, 121 minutes.