A documentary about iconic rabble-rousing journalist Seymour Hersh makes for an intriguing enough premise, but Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus’ lauded “Cover-Up” takes that promise and goes much further, using Hersh’s own reporting to frame a damning look at the enduring moral crimes of America itself.
Per its official logline: “‘Cover-Up‘ is a political thriller that traces the explosive career of Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Seymour Hersh. Urgent and deeply reported, ‘Cover-Up’ is both a portrait of a relentless journalist and an indictment of institutional violence — revealing a cycle of impunity in the U.S. military and intelligence agencies. Drawing on exclusive access to Hersh’s notes, and interweaving primary documents and archival footage, ‘Cover-Up’ captures the power and process of investigative journalism.”
Poitras and Obenhaus’ film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and went on to play Telluride, TIFF, NYFF, London, and IDFA. It’s already been nominated for a variety of awards, including from the IDA Documentary Awards, the Critics Choice Documentary Awards, and the Cinema Eye Honors.
In his glowing review out of Venice, IndieWire’s David Ehrlich wrote, “Poitras (‘Citizenfour,’ ‘All the Beauty and the Bloodshed’), like Hersh, has made a career of unpacking the kind of civil violations and moral atrocities that would have been committed with impunity if not for a dedicated effort to bring the truth to light. In Hersh, whose ongoing body of work represents a chronology of American malfeasance that spans from the Vietnam War to the Gaza genocide, she and her co-director Mark Obenhaus have found the perfect opportunity to step back and see the big picture — to make one film that outlines a historic cycle of obfuscation rather than 10 films that grapple with each of these different subjects in a vacuum.”
Ehrlich also made sure to note that the film, while remarkable as an overarching look at some of the stories Hersh has covered during his career, also works as a film about Hersh himself. Ehrlich wrote, “There’s no doubt that Poitras and Obenhaus see Hersh as a hero, but the nature of their work — and of his — refuses to let ‘Cover-Up’ tip into hagiography. Poitras has been guilty of presenting her subjects in an overly beatific light in the past … but her latest film is sure to highlight the most egregious missteps of Hersh’s career.”
In short, it’s a must-see for anyone who loves documentary films and the hard truths they can zero in on so fixedly. “Cover-Up” will be released in select theaters in December, with a streaming release on Netflix to follow on Friday, December 26. Check out the film’s first trailer below.