All the President’s Men (1976) recounts the events leading to President Nixon’s resignation. The incredible research, authenticity and respect for the people who uncovered the Watergate scandal is in every frame of this film. First time viewers will be amazed at how factual the movie proves itself while simultaneously playing as a taut suspense thriller.

Wisely, the filmmakers don’t indulge in distracting details and side-stories about the personal lives of Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman). And they don’t have to. Redford and Hoffman breathe life into these characters effortlessly; we care about these men not because we know their backstories, but because of their vital teamwork as they delve more and more deeply into the conspiracy. They are matched by an exceptional supporting cast (including Best Supporting Actor Oscar Winner Jason Robards who plays Ben Bradlee, the Senior Editor of The Washington Post) and a script that moves at a heightened pace, all the while stringently keeping to the facts. This film isn’t a “Hollywood true story”; it’s gritty and jarringly real. There are no tacked-on explosions, kidnappings, or love affairs to artificially heighten the drama. All the President’s Men is captivating enough as a historical drama, even when we're merely watching Woodward or Bernstein interview a suspect on the phone.

After being reminded of everything Bernstein and Woodward discovered, I wondered if the same kind of dramatic revelation of truth by a newspaper could happen today, or be accepted by the public if it did. Conspiracies and cover-ups in government and journalism are too familiar these days, news releases by either entity commonly serving more as propaganda pieces for one side or the other instead of fact-based stories (and even the Post was accused of liberal posturing when it tried to break the story).

Would we be willing to follow a story if proof began to build about a government conspiracy today? Do we only accept reporting from a source that is from one party or another instead of reviewing evidence from both sides? Do we really want to know the truth about the inner workings of our government's policies and actions? Or would we rather comfortably ignore the fact that men in power can be swayed and corrupted as easily as anyone else? How should we hold such individuals accountable to the oaths they took before taking office?

These questions make Woodward’s and Bernstein’s reporting feat all the more heroic. I’m inspired by the two men who continued to doggedly search for the truth even when the task seemed insurmountable (and when the danger of what they were researching became life-threatening). For this Republican and radical liberal, it wasn’t about personal politics. It was about uncovering information they felt the American people had a right to access. They were on the lowest rung of The Washington Post’s staff, but that didn’t stop them: they fought for truth.

As believers, we have sought out the Truth with all our hearts and found Him (Jeremiah 29:13). But God tells us that we are lost and in desperate need of His grace. Such a controversial bit of theology doesn’t present humanity in a positive light. It says we are not essentially good, and that putting our hopes in humankind’s efforts to right this world will get us nowhere. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can bring peace and restoration. Some of us know this. But how hard do we fight to reveal it to others?

Only God can change a heart, but do our lives and devotion to His Truth provide enough of a testament to make others begin their trek through God’s Word? The Lord says everything in darkness will eventually be brought into the light. The tenacity of Woodward and Bernstein displayed in All The President’s Men should be an inspiration to those of us concerned about bringing light to darkness.

note: Warner Bros. recently released a two-disc special edition of this film accompanied by multiple documentaries, including one on the making of the film, one on Woodward and Bernstein, and one on the man who was their inside informant (referred to as “Deep Throat”). All are impressive and I would highly recommend renting this special edition DVD set. As a fair warning to parents, while this is a wonderfully educational historical film, the PG rating in the 70s was a bit different than ours today. The language is raw and f**k is used as many times as would warrant an R with our current rating system.