'The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers' is a revealing documentary

Daniel Ellsberg narrates his own story in the Oscar-nominated documentary "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers," about the Vietnam protest era and the road to Watergate.

If you were alive in the 1960s/1970s, you probably know how you feel about his crucial role in revealing the top-secret history of the Vietnam War. If you were born in the Reagan-Clinton-Bush era, perhaps those names won't ring many bells or stir much interest.

Fortunately, the movie casts a spell early on and never really lets up. If you lived through it, you'll be fascinated. If not, it still does a skillful job of creating a convincing and even suspenseful narrative from this history.

Ellsberg's voice is used to suggest how his family may have led him to become a whistle-blower. After his father's "inattentiveness" led to a grotesque car crash (he fell asleep at the wheel), accidentally killing both his mother and sister, he never quite trusted authority.

When, acting as a military expert, he began to have doubts about four presidents whose policies led to Vietnam, he felt that "my life was split in two." He remembers asking a colleague, "Ever feel like the redcoats?"

Ellsberg recognized the series of deceptions that led to escalation of the war, but he allowed himself to become a part of the buildup. That is, until the early 1970s, when The New York Times broke stories based on the revelations unearthed by Ellsberg. The Washington Post and other papers followed. President Nixon's vengeful response led to Watergate.

Other voices complement Ellsberg's, including White House counsel John Dean, canny Boston Globe reporter Tom Oliphant and Ellsberg's wife, Patricia, and son Robert. Nixon's infamous tapes are excerpted.

Social historian Howard Zinn, who died in January, makes an especially strong case for Ellsberg's lasting impact. The filmmakers note Ellsberg's continuing (and occasionally prophetic) anti-war activities, though they're basically content to end the story with Nixon's resignation.

No mention is made of Ellsberg's visit to Seattle for a Bookfest appearance in the fall of 2002, when he railed against the "insane war" President Bush was contemplating in Iraq.

John Hartl: johnhartl@yahoo.com