Frost/Nixon

Frost/Nixon deals with the legendary political interviews between David Frost and Richard Nixon that aired in the summer of 1977. Ron Howard, a former actor turned film director, directs this movie treatment of Peter Morgan's smash-hit stage play about David Frost's television interviews with former President Richard Nixon.

Michael Sheen, who we have seen before in the Underworld as Lucian the leader of the werewolves plays the part of David Frost. Veteran actor Frank Langella very convincingly is cast in the role of the former US president Richard Nixon.

Film poster

David Frost was best known for being a host of talks shows and other light entertainment projects but he desired to gain more respect. Economical pressure was great as when first trying to get finances to move along with this project Frost had to put up a lot of money by himself. When the interviews would have been a failure this would have meant bankruptcy for Frost. Some people saw the interviews as a extenuation of Nixon's guilt and that when this would be successful the Nixon would return to politics.

This would have been the greatest prize for Nixon - although he already was granted a full pardon by Gerald Ford he still wanted to redeem himself in the eyes of the people. But thankfully Frost managed to survive the traps and "mind games" that Nixon had prepared for him and emerged as a winner.

Real life vs. stage play

The film reminded me of a boxing match - short but very intense episodes of head to head action that will end with the demise for the one side and triumph for the other side. Both sides have their supporting teams that during breaks offer counsel and backing.The stakes were high for the both sides involved in this project. This is all present in these interviews - both Nixon and Frost had their support teams that did background research for each side. And very similarly the spectators might feel a bit disappointed after all the initial hype is over and they are left with the real thing - the film only reminds us that all people, even presidents are just ordinary people with their short comings and deficiencies. All the drama that is promised in the beginning is missing in the end.

If to compare the actual interviews with the interviews in the film the greatest difference comes from the fact that the real thing did not get so emotional - the film uses dramatic pauses and intense and climatic background music during the interviews. In my opinion this robs the film a opportunity from becoming a true classic which it could have achieved. All the drama is already present in the historic interviews and by using these simple and bit banal tools for elevating the film into new heights it falls flat on its face.