Frost/Nixon

#243 at time of writing.

Ron Howard's competent film adaptation of Peter Morgan's play dramatises the famous interviews between David Frost and recently-resigned Richard Nixon from 1977.

The story remains reasonably faithful to the facts; the occasional edit or flourish adds to the drama without undermining the truth (cf Pearl Harbour and the like). You might say the film captures what the collective consciousness remembers of the Frost/Nixon interviews, rather than exactly what happened.

Frank Langella plays Nixon brilliantly, as a fallen man desperate for an act of contrition but still in too deep with his old trickery and slick ways. The film leaves us feeling satisfied that America got its confession from the dastardly Nixon, but it also leaves us feeling sympathy for the man.

Fascinating, but not really a must-watch film. It'll be off the Top 250 in a week.