The Most Dangerous Man in America: movie review
The title of the Oscar-nominated “The Most Dangerous Man in America” is drawn from Henry Kissinger’s description of the film’s subject, Daniel Ellsberg.
In this engrossing and well-crafted if somewhat hero-worshipy documentary by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, we chart Ellsberg’s progression from his boyhood and stint in the US Marines (1954-57) to his career as Defense Department Vietnam war hawk under Robert McNamara and, ultimately, antiwar activist who leaked the Pentagon Papers detailing the history of US involvement in Vietnam.
Ellsberg, his full-scale personal trajectory laid bare, emerges as a more complex man than both the right and the left have generally given him credit for. Grade: B+ (Unrated.)
