The Most Dangerous Man in America

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Directed by	Judith Ehrlich; Rick Goldsmith;
Written by	Michael Chandler; Judith Ehrlich; Rick Goldsmith; Lawrence Lerew;
Produced by	Judith Ehrlich; Rick Goldsmith;
Starring	Daniel Ellsberg
Cinematography	Vicente Franco; Dan Krauss;
Edited by	Michael Chandler; Rick Goldsmith; Lawrence Lerew;
Music by	Blake Leyh
Distributed by	First Run Features
Release dates	11 September 2009 (Toronto); 5 February 2010 (United States);
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers is a 2009 American documentary film directed by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith. The film follows Daniel Ellsberg and explores the events leading up to the 1971 publication of the Pentagon Papers, which exposed the top-secret military history of the United States' involvement in Vietnam.^[1]

The film was shown on the PBS series POV in 2010, for which it earned a Peabody Award.^[2]^[3]

Reception

Critical response

In a review for The New York Times, Mike Hale writes that the film "conscientiously notes the viewpoints of those who believe that Mr. Ellsberg betrayed his country or his former colleagues at the Defense Department" and the filmmakers "concentrate on their portrait of Mr. Ellsberg, who emerges as a complex and difficult man whose principles, whether you agree with them or not, can’t be denied."^[1] Roger Ebert writes, "It is a skillful, well-made film, although, since Ellsberg is the narrator, it doesn't probe him very deeply. We see his version of himself."^[4]

Mick LaSalle writes in a review for The San Francisco Chronicle, "The film is packed with stories, from numerous talking heads, including Ellsberg. A wealth of information is conveyed with complete clarity."^[5] In a review for The Journal of American History, Stephen J. Whitfield notes "the most dangerous man in America" was a moniker "bestowed by Henry Kissinger, who had admired his Harvard University colleague's pioneering work in decision theory. But the film commits the unpardonable sin of leaving the title unexplained."^[6]

In a review for NPR, Mark Jenkins writes that the filmmakers "sometimes rely on Errol Morris-style reconstructions of events, which are less deft than Morris'. Distractingly, they also use sketchy animation for a few sequences."^[7] In a review for Variety, Ronnie Scheib writes, "While a present-day Ellsberg complains that the massive number of bombs dropped on Vietnam, which he repeatedly mentioned in press conferences back then, was never duly reported, Ehrlich and Goldsmith redress that silence with a bombardment of newsreel images of aerial destruction."^[8]

The Most Dangerous Man in America has an approval rating of 96% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 56 reviews, and an average rating of 7.84/10.^[9] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 75 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[10]