Television Release Date: March 9, 2003

Run Time: 1 Hour 31 Minutes

This made for television movie The Pentagon Papers is based upon the true story of an American patriot whose actions at the time were considered to be acts of treason. Daniel Ellsberg, a former Pentagon analyst, worked with information regarding the Vietnam War. His final goal and largest achievement was to make known to the public what has been known as the Pentagon Papers, a descriptive outline that revealed the truth about the United States' engagement in the Vietnam War. Troubled at the same time, Ellsberg roles in the Pentagon Papers fell into the Watergate Scandal of former President Nixon.

Daniel Ellsberg (James Spader) was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1931. Later he obtained his undergraduate degree from Harvard University. After this he served in the United States Marine Corps for two years before returning to Harvard to obtain his doctorate in economics. With stunning educational credentials he moved on in 1959 to join the RAND Corporation, to server as an analyst for their economics department.

After 1961, Ellsberg and his colleagues at the RAND Corporation began testing various scenarios and possibilities for what could occur during wartime, essentially what is known as war games. During this time Ellsberg wrote a paper in regards to the Vietnam War that caught the eye of some in the Pentagon. In 1964 Ellsberg was recruited by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to work as an analyst at the Pentagon. This was somewhat of a dream of Ellsberg, as he always had a strong desire and sense patriotism to serve his country.

Prior to leaving for Washington, Ellsberg was reveled with an unsettling truth. His wife wanted a divorce. Ellsberg emotionally torn could not sway his wife to change her mind; he even entertained the idea to change. But Ellsberg always had this strong sense of patriotism and most likely could never be changed. So when he arrived in Washington he was given an office in the basement, where he devoted his life to studying intelligence from Vietnam. After finding that reported intelligence could not be trusted, as some intelligence contradicted other intelligence, he volunteered to be sent to join US soldiers in Vietnam to confirm authenticity of the information being sent to Washington. It was imperative that the information being given to the president be truthful, as decisions made upon those would determine the lives of thousands.

While he originally intended for this journey to Vietnam to be short, Ellsberg ended up spending over two years. During his time spent in Vietnam, Ellsberg learned that the intelligence being returned was in fact not accurate. Upon his return he drafted a very long document in regards to his findings. After which he returned to his old position in the RAND Corporation. During this time a 47 volume document was produced, top secret and highly confidential records regarding the United States true involvement in the Vietnam War, the Pentagon Papers.

Having worked on the document, Ellsberg demanded to obtain a copy. No longer being tied into the Pentagon, he did not have access. Fortunately through the RAND Corporation he was able to get his hands on a copy. With the truth in his hands, Ellsberg learned of a true conspiracy within the government. He desired that this truth be made known to the public. However doing so, revealing these classified documents could brandish Ellsberg as a traitor.

The DVD

Spoken Languages: English

Non-Spoken Languages: none

Video:
This feature is presented in its original television aspect of 1.33:1 ratio full frame color. The picture quality is fairly good for the most part. However there are some scenes in which the picture has a very noticeable grain in the picture. Also generally there are slight color defects throughout the feature. While the picture quality is not complete clear and crisp, it is still very presentable.

Sound:
The audio in this feature was presented in English 2.0 Dolby digital surround sound. The sound quality is fairly good with no discrepancies in terms of volume level. The dialogue is easily understand throughout the feature.

Subtitles:
There are no subtitles in this feature.

Extras:
There aren't any extras in this DVD.

Final Thoughts:
The Vietnam War is a highly published topic in our history, in regards to featured films, novels, magazines, and other forms of media. I found that this feature that was based upon a true story brought to life an event in our history that had significant impact upon our society. Touching upon the Watergate Scandal (another very interesting piece of history) the Pentagon Papers is a story about the government hiding the truth from the American people and the world. While this is a story about government conspiracies and cover-ups, you won't find David Duchovny chasing aliens. Anyways I enjoyed the film, but it's really not one of those titles that you want to watch over and over. It's great for a rental for those interested in and the likes.