Nothing But the Truth

No one needed to explain to me before watching this film that it is necessary to protect a journalist's source, and thus I can fully focus on evaluating the rest. If I were to define the concept of film routine, I could successfully apply it to this drama. The routine screenplay and routine direction kill the potential of the subject matter, so only the famous names in the cast remain, but even here, nothing exceptional happens. The dialogue is weak, and there are too many big words, martyr faces, and transparent emotional manipulation of the viewer. This film is too instructive, and therefore ineffective in my eyes. I didn't guess the big reveal of the plot, which many commentators describe as powerful, shocking, etc., but I strongly suspected it after a quarter of the way through the film, i.e., the source was very probable given the initial situation. With the knowledge of the plot, however, the behavior of the main character ceases to be a sympathetic fight for the right cause and personal integrity but becomes dogmatic, which not only affects the main character but especially her surroundings. Overall impression: 45%. (27/10/2013)

Nothing But the Truth is a quality courtroom drama about a strong and noble journalist who is willing to sacrifice even what is most precious to her for her principles. Kate Beckinsale is excellent and the enthusiasm of the rest of the stellar cast raises the film above the level of its standard script. (09/02/2010)

You should stand up for yourself. Mothers have been hammering this into our heads since we were very young, but it's only with the loyal and tenacious reporter Kate Beckinsale by our side that we can discover the true meaning of this simple phrase. An honest courtroom drama, which may not impress with its course and will not stay in your memory, but the excellent actors make it beautiful to watch and the perfectly conceived twist will surprise you so much that you won't forget it. And Kate looks great. :-) 80% (30/09/2013)

The exceptional strength of this film is that, despite the wide range of interrelated themes, characters, and positions it explores, it has established a clear hierarchy for them in relation to the story it wants to tell. And because of this, it masterfully manages to concentrate an entire story with nearly 40 speaking characters (usually a film has around 10-20; horror films, for example, rarely even have 10) into 100 minutes, where he quite consciously for the most part ignores the issue of the United States' pretexts for military intervention or the public's reaction and mood to the protagonists' findings and work. Everything we see here takes place behind the veil, where everyone has their own motivations, hence the film's decision not to build an outright negative side. The closest thing to that, given his position with regard to the protagonist, is in the role of the special federal prosecutor wonderfully played by Matt Dillon, but even he has room to articulate his motivations so we’re able to understand them even though we might not agree with them. The biggest surprise here, however, is the camerawork, which perhaps out of awareness of the limitations of a film made up of dozens of characters interacting in generic interiors, chooses atypical angles, extreme zooms, cuts the dialogue from close-ups, often with contre-jour, and introduces the establishing shots as late as the 5th or 10th frame of a scene (Soderbergh, for example, works in a similar way in his contemporary films). This also makes the film's characters partially dehumanized as general symbols of their principles, which is ultimately the whole point of the struggle depicted. This is why Nothing But the Truth is an ideal representative of the auteur film, where the director completely understands what the script wants to be about because the same person is behind it. (13/10/2018)

Carefully written, thematically urgent and grandly generous in acting. Kate Beckinsale, Matt Dillon, Alan Alda, and co. take this courtroom drama up a notch. Though on first impression, the intimate feel and modest marketing make it look purely average, this it's exactly one of those films that doesn't tend to be great, but deals with greatness quite deftly. (06/09/2015)