The Most Dangerous Man In America

In 1971 Daniel Ellsberg, a high-level Pentagon official and Vietnam War strategist, concluded that the war is based on decades of lies and subsequently leaks 7,000 pages of top secret documents to The New York Times.

Trailer for The Most Dangerous Man in America, which screened at the 2009 Vancouver International Film Festival. Mingling archival footage, audio recordings (which capture Nixon at his most ruthless), animated sequences, dramatic re-enactments and interviews, Ehrlich and Goldsmith lend a keen investigative eye to a myriad of subjects. While the dramatic accounts of abuses of power and the role of the press prove duly fascinating, the intensely principled Ellsberg remains the heart and soul of this study. In recounting a tragic car crash from his childhood, he chillingly states that it left him understanding that authority figures could fall asleep at the wheel. In detailing Ellsberg's atonement for his own 'shameful' lapse, this documentary becomes an inspirational tale of how inner peace can be achieved amidst the most harrowing circumstances.

Woody Harrelson discusses The Most Dangerous Man in America.

Co-winner of this year s Freedom of Expression Award from the National Board of Review (and one of their Five Best Documentaries of the Year), Winner of the Special Jury Award at IDFA, and in contention for the year s Best Documentary Oscar, The Most Dangerous Man in America tells the story of Daniel Ellsberg, a high-level Pentagon official and Vietnam War strategist, who in 1971 concluded that the war is based on decades of lies and leaks 7,000 pages of top secret documents to The New York Times, making headlines around the world. A riveting story of how this one man s profound change of heart created a landmark struggle involving America s newspapers, its president and Supreme Court. With Daniel Ellsberg, Patricia Ellsberg, Tony Russo, Howard Zinn, Hedrick Smith, John Dean, and, from the secret White House tapes, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, who called Ellsberg the most dangerous man in America.

The Most Dangerous Man in America tells the story of Daniel Ellsberg, a high-level Pentagon official and Vietnam War strategist, who in 1971 concluded that the war was based on decades of lies and leaked 7,000 pages of top secret documents to The New York Times, making headlines around the world.