Flick Addiction

Institutional Images in “All The President’s Men”

The film is at once idealistic and nihilistic.  Idealistic in its story, the triumph of detective journalism.  But nihilistic, or at least despairing , in its imagery.  Despite their efforts the characters are constantly enveloped by their environment.  They are reduced to objects placed within a institutional systems.  This is best shown in the newspaper office and the parking garage (which echoes the newspaper office with its pillars and grid pattern ceiling).  Even in outdoor spaces they can’t really escape.  They are either framed from overhead as if being watched by an omniscient force, or shot from distant and low angles, where the institutional state buildings are ever-present and dominate.