Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House - Movie Review

The story of an American hero who took down the most powerful office in the free world, from the inside, gets a reel-life narrative. A film that has come at an interesting time for US politics with one of the most unhinged and incompetent elected leaders of recent times at the country's helm. Let's take a look at the story of 'Deep Throat' aka Mark Felt and the circumstances that led a patriot to take down the executive branch of the nation, including the resignation of President Nixon.

As someone based in India, modern political history of America was nowhere on our educational spectrum and neither did I have an interest in serious politics at the age of 15. But I remember my dad bringing home a particular movie on VCD called "All the President's Men" and that is how I came to know of the Watergate scandal surrounding the 1972 presidential election. 

William Mark Felt Sr. was Associate Director at the F.B.I. at the time of the Watergate break-in, an FBI lifer and a figure of righteousness in the Bureau and a man trusted by J. Edgar Hoover himself, "a G-Man's G-Man". Probably why they overlooked him for the post of F.B.I. Director after Hoover's death and Attorney General Patrick Gray (played by Maton Csokas) and puppet of the White House was given that position.

Liam Neeson seems to dorn the role perfectly as a silver-haired FBI man with piercing eyes and a hardened face that is somehow still capable of showing emotion. The face of a man who has been wronged, as some refer to it but he does do a good job as Mark Felt. The story is fast paced, skipping over the investigation itself and focussing more on the dilemmas faced by Felt as he had to choose between his loyalty to the job and serving in the best interests of the country. It also focussed on the moments that Felt did interact with the press, offering them classified information from an F.B.I. investigation that the White House was desperate to shut down. 

The film adds a sense of drama to what was simply bureaucratic scheming with shots of dark corridors and riding in the back of period sedans. It enlists a very talented pool of actors for every supporting role, big or small - Diane Lane as Audrey Felt, Tony Goldwyn and Josh Lucas as FBI suits that were close to Felt, Tom Sizemore as the infamous Bill Sullivan with Ike Barinholtz and Brian d'Arcy James as the FBI field agents who played crucial roles in the Watergate investigation and gave defining testimonies during the trial. The reporters that Mark talked to, whose papers gave him the nickname "Deep Throat" were played by Julian Morris (as Bob Woodward) and Bruce Greenwood (as Sandy Smith) while Eddie Marsan made a cameo appearance as a CIA man.

The film has an intense theme throughout with the only distraction from the political drama coming from Felt's investigation into the Weather Underground, in the process of which he had violated certain civil rights of those thought to be members of the group. Director Peter Landesman has done a decent job of the film though he seems to have restrained from certain details which would have added to the cinematic storytelling.

It's a good film, not a remarkable one, though the timing may prove a factor for the American audiences. I'd rate 'Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House' 7 out of 10 apple pies.