WHEN politics beckons, grubby behaviours inevitably answer. Democracy’s chief saving grace is that the alternatives are far, far worse. Australians, with access to a leading news organisation as simple as ABC, are probably savvy about how the land of the free and the home of the brave runs its political systems.

The US presidential election is the greatest show on earth. The prize is not merely the right to govern. Serious money is involved. Ambition influences every element of the production. Who will win? What secrets lie behind the contest? How will it affect the fortunes of other nations?

In 2004, Mary Mapes, producer of CBS’s flagship news program “60 Minutes”, led a team investigating allegations that George W Bush used his President father’s political clout to conceal that young George’s claim of training in the National Guard (thereby avoiding serving in Vietnam) was in fact a lie.

“Truth” is writer/director James Vanderbilt’s telling how Mary Mapes and her team investigated that apparent lie after CBS fired her.

As a movie, it’s got everything – tension, evasion, probity and, not least, credibility.

If I were a betting man, I’d bet that “Truth” will get a nomination for just about every category in just about every peer assessment contest that the movie industry conducts to promote its 2015 products. Cate Blanchett’s performance as Mary Mapes looks a front runner for Best Actress. While Robert Redford gives a sweet performance as “60 Minutes” anchorman Dan Rather, Blanchett dominates the film with energy, chutzpah and superb nuances.

Politics is a tough game, as any player will tell everybody. So, too, is uncovering the truth of a controversy. This is great cinema.

At Palace Electric and Capitol 6