Cover-Up

Name: Cover-Up
Director: Laura Poitras
Genre: Documentary, Arts and culture
Released: 2025
Duration: 1 h 58 min
Cast: Seymour M Hersh, Jeff Gerth, David Obst, Bob Woodward, Max Friedman

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Documentary
Arts and culture

2025
Laura Poitras
118 mins
15

Summary

Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras and co-director Mark Obenhaus gain the trust of Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh for an eye-opening portrait of the pursuit of truth at all costs in an era of widely touted 'fake news'. Incorporating archive footage and a revealing in-person interview with Hersh, Cover-Up traces the reporter's endless quest for answers and justice. The film recalls his work on the Watergate scandal for The New York Times, his courageous exposure of the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War and evidence of torture at Abu Ghraib prison. Hersh provides access to his personal notes (and steadfastly protects his sources) to demonstrate his tenacity under fire and an insatiable public interest in transgressions of power

IMDB

Review

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

James Mottram

This eye-opening documentary is a sharp and sometimes knotty portrait of American investigative reporter Seymour M Hersh. Blessed with a keen sense of distrust that's vital in his business, Hersh is a combative and reluctant interviewee - co-director Laura Poitras first approached him 20 years prior to the film's release - as he sits in his home office recounting war stories. But you're left to admire the tenacity of a journalist who has taken on government and military abuses of power, breaking stories that ranged from My Lai to Abu Ghraib. Joined here by co-director Mark Obenhaus, Poitras is no stranger to tackling those who take on authorities at the highest level - notably in Citizenfour, her timely 2014 look at whistle-blower Edward Snowden. Here, she meets her match in the 88-year-old Hersh, who continues to needle the great and the not-so-good. He frequently refuses to answer questions, guarding his anonymous sources, but the film never balks, even covering the scandal that engulfed him when penning his John F Kennedy memoir involving forged Marilyn Monroe letters. Thoroughly absorbing.

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7.4/10

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Credits

Cast

rolenameSeymour M HershSeymour M HershJeff GerthJeff GerthDavid ObstDavid ObstBob WoodwardBob WoodwardMax FriedmanMax FriedmanAmy Davidson SorkinAmy Davidson Sorkin