The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (2009), by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, tells the story of how Ellsberg came to his decision to leak secret documentation of the Vietnam War to the public in 1971. Under the talking-heads-and-archival-footage surface of this riveting film is a scathing commentary on current events. Daniel Ellsberg (top still, at left) narrates the film; Howard Zinn, among many other fascinating people, brings a sense of immediacy and relevance to the story (second still). President Nixon's audio recordings (third still, for example) add a darkly humorous element that does not minimize the damage done during the decades of US involvement in Vietnam. Tony Russo, who worked with Ellsberg to make copies of the Pentagon Papers, is also shown as a hero (bottom still).
