Réduite au silence: L'effet Martha Mitchell

Here's The 4K Lowedown on "The Martha Mitchell Effect" (PG - 2022 - Netflix) Genre: Documentary/Biography

My Score: 6.3 Cast=6 Acting=6 Plot=7 Ending=6 Story=7 Interest=7 Cinema=4 Direct=6 History=10 Pace=4

The Cabinet wife who spoke out during Watergate and the Nixon administration's campaign to gaslight her into silence.

I knew about the Watergate scandal, but I didn't know about Martha Mitchell or her involvement. This intrigued me right off the bat and it did drop some knowledge on me that I didn't already have. The problem I had with this was the documentary was so dry that I had to wipe the dust off my TV twice in the 40 minutes it took to see it. If you are interested in Politics or Watergate specifically, I think this is worth a watch.

It's a shame this documentary wasn't a full-length one that looked at Martha Mitchell's entire life. Instead, it was a very short look at her life in Washington and Watergate. Richard Nixon is seen in an interview saying if not for Martha Mitchell, there would have been no Watergate. The crimes would have not been exposed.

Martha Mitchell was the Mouth of the South. She was not like any of the other Republican wives. She did not censor her comments about anything, but still was much the Republican, except where the Vietnam War was concerned. It wasn't the war, however, that made the Nixon administration try to silence her. It was Watergate.

Not only did they try to silence her, they tried to make her out to be mentally ill. Her own husband, who she had always ferociously protected and supported, is heard on White House tapes saying she needed to be seen by the media as unstable. This wasn't gaslighting, because Martha Mitchell was way too smart to be gaslighted.

It was a campaign to discredit her in the eyes of the world. How it all ends is sad. Sad for everyone, including Martha Mitchell, the one person who would not be silenced. Too bad Martha Mitchell wasn't around to take on Donald Trump. She would not have supported his crimes, stupidity and incompetence for a second.

Sometimes Hollywood incorrectly stereotypes the 1970's as a "fun" or "easy" period of time.

Those who lived it or truly study it, however, know that the fun was always mixed with an undercurrent of change and the fight of honor versus dishonor.

It was a very political time.

---

Martha Mitchell Effect is the term when a psychiatrist misdiagnoses someone as delusional when the story they tell--though improbable--is true. And so it was with Martha herself.

She was the first Cassandra voice of corruption at the top. The first to question the impact Nixon would have historically.

People who dismiss the time period lightly would do well to respect that many of the roots of political division we have now began in 1972.

Wow -- what a surprise and a delight!

I knew the basic history of Watergate -- or rather, I thought I knew. "The Martha Mitchell Effect" reintroduced me to that past and made me question the relative simplicity of the story I'd learned previously.

With efficient storytelling that nevertheless dynamically develops its main character, the film presents a memorable story suggestive of contemporary connections without putting a fine point on them -- that is, it's faithful to its history, as a work of history should be, yet pushes the viewer to reexamine the present (again, as a work of history should!).

The restrained yet stylized use of motion and motion graphics with the archival images deserves special mention. It managed to elevate the work and give it a contemporary feel without once taking the viewer out of the era at the heart of the film. It's thoroughly historical, yet impressively fresh.

Nixon said it himself, if it hadn't been for Martha there wouldn't been a Watergate scandal.

She was not an alcoholic. She was not crazy. She simply told the truth.

This could have easily been a full length documentary. It should have been. Would have loved to have known about Martha's childhood. Also, her and her husband's relationship with their child. What was the Mitchell's life like before they went to Washington DC? How did they meet? I have so many questions that weren't addressed. This brief documentary is very well done and a perfectly adequate thumbnail sketch of this pivotal moment in history.