Dramatic license pretty much means any acted film based on true events cannot be looked at as something that is strictly recreating history. However, we can look at these films as recreating the mood and connections history hold between the individuals in the story as well as the historical connections to present day. This means films such as Frost/Nixon, while they open up our eyes to a time in history we may have never heard of or don’t fully recollect, can’t be looked at as historical fact, but rather historical fiction.
This is nothing new, but somewhere inside the bringing to life the story of the David Frost and Richard Nixon interviews I felt Ron Howard took dramatic license a bit far near the tail end of the film. A film that started out as a battle of dialogue soon turned into something of a story of Frost staying up late, cramming for the big test and ending up getting that A+ at the end of the story and managing to graduate. Howard took his time telling the story early on and at the end it felt as if he wanted to hit the audience hard, but the patiently told story soon turns into sensationalism and lost me.
The late night drunk phone call never occurred and the climactic moment when Nixon says, “I’m saying that when the President does it, that means it’s not illegal,” happened, but not at the moment it is shown as having taken place. These are only a couple of moments where the film diverts from the truth, but in my opinion they are major moments and they are the moments audiences walk away from the film remembering most. Therefore, doesn’t the fact it didn’t happen the way it is shown make you feel just a bit uneasy?
In his audio commentary Howard says the late night phone call was used to create a parallel between the two characters and the comment made by Nixon packs a powerful punch no matter when it is said. But as powerful as it is, the fact it didn’t happen the way it is shown lessens its impact in terms of the overall film in my eyes. However, this Blu-ray reminds us the real story behind the film remains eternally fascinating and this disc does a fantastic job of separating fact from fiction and adding much more.
The best of the supplemental bunch comes in the form of the Blu-ray exclusive U-Control features and Ron Howard’s audio commentary, which is a revealing listen as he does a great job sorting out what really happened from what is dramatic license — this I can respect. He never lingers on any one topic too long and he had an obvious passion for the project. His comments do bleed over to the U-Control picture-in-picture feature, but that is only natural as you can only say so much about one thing, but the U-Control features offer much, much more.
The picture-in-picture feature includes most everything you will find in the “Discovering Secrets” and “The Making of Frost/Nixon” featurettes as well as about 90 minutes of additional behind-the-scenes looks and interviews with the cast and the real people they portray. You will hear from Sir David Frost regarding things that actually happened including Nixon asking him if he had done “any fornicating” the night before at the opening moments of the first interview session. You will learn about the cooperation given to the film by the Nixon Library and the fact they were able to film in several of the actual locations the real events took place including Frost’s hotel room at The Beverly Hilton and La Casa Pacifica (Nixon’s Western White House).
My favorite moments in the interview pieces include a comment from Rebecca Hall referring to her character as the “Bond girl for political geeks” and a fantastic quote from Frank Langella saying, “We don’t get to the core anymore, we don’t have time to get to the core, nobody’s interested. They just want the surface.” This, of course, is in reference to our treatment of political figures and he is spot on and has much more to say on the subject throughout the interviews. The other U-Control feature is called “The Nixon Chronicles” which includes occasional official news footage, character profiles and pretty much serves as a trivia track of sorts.
There is also a short feature on the actual interviews but it only runs 7:28 and you can buy “Frost/Nixon: Complete Interviews” when it releases on April 28, 2009 if you are interested in the full 400 minutes. Next is a short feature on the Nixon Library and then 30 minutes of deleted scenes.
On a whole this is a fantastic release with very high production values. The picture-in-picture feature runs the entire length of the film and must have taken a ton of time to put together and it is well worth the watch. The way the filmmakers open up about the changes to the story gives the film much more weight as I think it is a very important factor when dealing with real life reproductions. However, Frost/Nixon remains only a decent film in my mind and as great as this Blu-ray release is, it remains a disc I recommend you rent and absorb and then return to your favorite rental house.
