We reach the point of the Oscars cycle where I begin watching the fifteen short film nominees, in a quixotic quest to watch as many of the nominated films as is possible before the ceremony. Unfortunately, that means some of the next few entries are going to be potentially shorter than the time it takes to even actually write 200 words on them. This might pose a problem. We’ll see. In the case of The Martha Mitchell Effect, the film is at least slightly longer than that, but I don’t know if it has the substance to back that up. Basically the first two paragraphs of a Wikipedia article committed to film, The Martha Mitchell Effect is an illuminating if superficial look at - no points for guessing - Martha Mitchell, wife of John Mitchell (attorney general under Richard Nixon) and constant thorn in Richard Nixon’s side, not least in her various public comments post-Watergate. She causes trouble, she is smeared, she is redeemed. The problem is that it’s all basically a foregone conclusion. We all know Richard Nixon is a crook, the fact he endorsed this behaviour is of no surprise to anyone. I’m glad to have learnt more of the story, but I didn’t particularly leave feeling like my understanding of that presidency had changed.