Cate Blanchett delivers a 'You can't handle the truth!' moment in Truth

Perhaps it’s blasphemous to call anyone The Next Meryl, but no one scoffs if you mention Cate Blanchett’s name in such a comparison. The two-time Oscar winner, who’s nominated again this year for her work in Carol, is similar to the record-holding Meryl Streep in that her non-nominated performances would be career highlights for 95 percent of her peers. Take, for example, Blanchett’s overlooked work in Babel, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Veronica Guerin, and Oscar and Lucinda. 

Truth is another Blanchett ho-hum wonderwork — brilliance you almost take for granted. She plays CBS news producer Mary Mapes, who was ultimately fired after her 2004 60 Minutes II segment with Dan Rather (Robert Redford) accused then-president George W. Bush of skipping out on his obligations to the Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. The story aired two months before the presidential election, and conservative critics quickly pounced, claiming the documents CBS presented were forgeries. Under pressure, CBS apologized and Rather later resigned. But questions remained. 

There’s a particularly powerful scene in Truth that reminds you Cate Blanchett is in the room, dammit, and attention must be paid. Mapes has been called on the carpet during CBS’s internal investigation of the 60 Minutes story, and it’s clear she’s the scapegoat. Her best option is say as little as possible to the board of rich white men whose primary interest is preserving the corporate stock price and avoiding government meddling, rather than journalistic ethics. Mapes can’t resist, though, and God bless her, because it allows Blanchett to bottom-line the film’s case. 

Truth, directed by James Vanderbilt and costarring Dennis Quaid, Elisabeth Moss, and Topher Grace, arrives on Blu-ray/DVD on Feb. 2. In the video at the top, the cast and crew discuss the “pressure that they had to deliver the facts” in an exclusive featurette from the new disc.