Allow me to put it straight out there, the Frost/Nixon interview is nothing but brilliance! Watching Frost as the interviewer felt like an honour.
The interview is a carefully crafted masterpiece, right from the events leading up to the interview happening, through to the effect the interview had following its release.
Frost, with a devoted team, managed to secure the only interview President Nixon ever gave on Watergate. The interview on Watergate was couched within an interview period that covered 24 hours total, covering a wide range of topics with 6 hours each on foreign policy, domestic affairs, Watergate and a section of interview defined as “Nixon the Man”. The central element was the Watergate section and it is this section that is featured on the DVD, edited down to the most compelling 88 minutes of that interview.
Amazingly, Nixon had agreed to a contract that would not allow him to see any of the questions prior to the interview, nor was he allowed any influence in the editing that would take place afterwards, so what we get to watch in Nixon’s reactions and answers is something that is not pre-prepared at all, they are his initial reactions to the questions right there on the screen.
Over the 88 minutes, what unfolds is a masterpiece. Frost takes the angle of journalistic prosecutor, but a very careful one who does not badger the defendant (Nixon), but takes a line of questioning, presenting evidence and probing in such a way that moves Nixon beyond a careful defence into actually opening up in a way the public probably had not seen before. Ultimately he moves Nixon towards confession.
As someone who has conducted minor interviews and hosts talkback, it was an absolute pleasure to watch this interview. It had me for the whole 88 minutes. It was like watching a game of cat and mouse, but it was also an opportunity to watch an American President without all the bravado and pomp, without the speechwriters and media coaches – it was a chance to watch a Nixon stripped back to the human being that he was in that moment.
There is an award winning movie out that portrays the events surrounding and during the interview, but if anyone wants to get right into the event itself, the original interview is the one to watch – there is no artistic licence taken, there is no Hollywood bravado, there is no musical score to manipulate your emotive response – there is simply Frost and Nixon, stripped back and discussing Watergate.
It is the masterfulness of a brilliant interviewer and the humanity of a broken President. It is a must watch.
Reviewed by: Frank RitchieRating: TBCReleased on: April 16th, 2009Year of Original Release: 1977Stars: David Frost, Richard NixonLength (Minutes): 88Media Format: DVDAspect Ratio: 1.33 : 1Languages: EnglishDirector: Winther, JornStudio: Vendetta Films
Wholeheartedly agree with this review. Frost Nixon is brilliant, and while the concept sounds drier than rice crackers on toast, I was captured every moment of this film.