peril. and -- >> imminently? >> you say imminently, it's easy for us to sit here and look behind and say, well, 24 hours, 48 hours? it was our judgment, and it was unanimous, by the way, i might add, it was the secretary of defense, secretary of state, joint chiefs of staff, director of national intelligence, attorney general, that we all came to the same conclusion, that we didn't want to take any chances here. >> you can have a basic principle, we do not leave anybody wearing the american uniform behind. we had a prisoner of war. whose health had deteriorated, and we were deeply concerned about, and we saw an opportunity and we seized it. and i make no apologies for that.

president obama and his pentagon chief double downed down on bergdahl's health being their main reason that time was running out. but on the hill, some senators who saw the proof of life video that led to the president's quick decision-making are still unconvinced. republican senator saxby chambliss reports bergdahl looked drug, but it was not enough to say he looked in imminent danger. his health was not the critical factor. mark pryor also had concerns. the video has not yet been publicly released. make your own judgment of the video of the handover. right now the sergeant is in the second phase of reentry to society. he's undergoing decompression to prepare for regular social contact in a reunion with his family. the military says his condition is improving by day, and that's only further fueling critics of his release. nbc's kristen welker is outside the white house. kristen, how is the administration handling all of

the bergdahl backlash? >> reporter: well, they briefed all of the senators last night, as you pointed out. they showed them that proof of life video, making the argument that it showed a bowe bergdahl whose health was deteriorating, that his life was in danger. and today, abby, we're learning a few more details about why the administration may have thought that. about an hour ago, the associated press reported that senators were told that the administration had been told that bowe bergdahl's life would be in danger, that he could be killed if news of this potential deal leaked out. i have just learned moments ago from a senior administration official that the qataris did say to the obama administration, that their intelligence said if the plan leaked, bergdahl's life would be danger. an official said, our judgment

was that every day, sergeant bergdahl was a prisoner. his life was at risk. from the video we saw in january, he did not look well. this led to a greater sense of urgency in pursuing his recovery. we had both specific and general indications that sergeant bergdahl's recovery and potentially his life could be jeopardized if the detainee exchange were disclosed or derailed. so that is how the administration is attempting to put a lid on this mounting controversy, as they brief senators about why specifically they thought bergdahl's life was in jeopardy. here is what president obama had to say earlier today. take a listen. >> with respect to how we announced it, i think it was important for people to understand that this is not some abstraction. this is not a political football. you have a couple of parents whose kid volunteered to fight in a distant land.

who he hadn't seen in five years. and weren't sure they'd ever see again. i make absolutely no apologies for making sure that we get back a young man to his parents. we don't condition whether or not we make the effort to try to get them back. >> reporter: president obama continues to deal with this debate back at home, while he travels overseas. of course, tomorrow, he will mark the 70th anniversary of normandy. so he is there with other world leaders, doing that, marking d-day, i should say. but this controversy continues to swirl at home. a lot of people criticizing the obama administration for their handling of this, for claiming that this is a foreign policy victory, when there's still a lot of unanswered questions. administration officials continue to reiterate what you just heard from the president, which is that the u.s. does not leave an american soldier on the battlefield. back to you guys. >> kristen welker, thanks so

much. let's turn now to dana, political columnist at the "washington post." the cover story this week asked, was he worth it? and calls the release, no simple feel-good story, the ideal symbol for the end of the afghanistan war. dana, i want to start on the politics of all of this. the administration continues to double down on this health argument. you maf many people saying this is dishonest when you look at the video. yet there are easy ways to justify bergdahl's rescue. help us understand, why is the administration making it, it seems, worse on themselves? >> yeah, abby, this seems like a fairly slim read on which to justify the whole thing. there's two issues here. one is the prisoner exchange itself, which is a perfectly defensible thing. people can disagree. but but the other is the way the administration handled it. and that's very difficult to explain, why they didn't consult

with congress, why it was necessary to have this rose garden issue, why it was important to have the national security adviser go on television to vouch for this guy's service record. so the issue of how they handled it, they've really inflicted injuries on themselves. but the core of what they did there, the prisoner exchange, they can make a good case that was the right thing to do. >> yeah. radicka, the article in time, our whole team read that this morning. probably the most in-depth piece i've read about the situation so far. but jumping right into it, you guys talk about the communication, or lack thereof between president obama and congress. and the article says, the president made matters worse by rushing the final arrangements to trade five taliban leaders for bergdahl past a reluctant military. the decision boiled down to suck it up and salute. help us to understand what was going on in all of this communication, how bad was it actually? >> i mean, i think this is sort

of a running theme and criticism of the obamaadministration, for all the talk about transparency, they seem to be making unilateral decisions. in the president's remarks today, you get the sense that they felt an urgency that maybe other parties involved didn't feel, or weren't onboard with. so i think that is going to keep fueling this controversy over whether or not this was the right thing to do, was this the right way to do it. and in the larger context of the pullout from this war for which public support has so eroded, and which has created so many problems for the obama administration, even just last week, in terms of the va scandals and how we're treating our veterans, this is part of a larger story about communication between the administration, the military, and going forward, how we treat our veterans and how we're able to reintegrate them into our society.

>> dana millbank, today are days like the reason i love you. and the piece you wrote. >> thank you. >> so fantastic. >> i know where this is going. >> you'll see where this is going. the scandal of the industrial complex is fired up and ready to go, likening the bergdahl situation to, of course, benghazi. and you make that -- you make it clear why this comparison makes so much sense. you write, both events happened under president obama, in both instances someone involved was susan rice. and don't forget that bergdahl and benghazi both begin with the letter "b." even though afghanistan is in asia and libya is in africa, both continents begin with the letter "a." of course, they're the same. >> that pretty much nails it down right there. i like the idea of buck mcke on going on television saying he has hearings because it looks a lot like benghazi. i'm quoting as closely as i can, because the administration did or did not do something, then

afterwards they talked about what they did or did not do. that's clearly by definition a scandal right there. i said a moment ago, look, there's very serious issues here. they apparently broke the law in not speaking to congress. not at all clear to me why they rolled it out in the rose garden the way they did. but hold on a second now. why are we going in a direction of benghazi. and of course, part of this is the effort to blame hillary clinton for this even though she left office 16 months ago. and, well, the conservative human events said they had evidence this is closely tied to hillary clinton. why was that? because jake tapper on the other news network was speculating about it. jake tapper called me and said, i wasn't speculating about this. it's made up entirely out of whole cloth. >> "time" had fascinating reporter, you all actually spoke with a taliban commander, unnamed taliban commander about their thinking around all of this.

and really interesting and really troubling stuff came out of that conversation. one of the things that that commander said very sort of jubilantly is, this is a historic moment for us. today our enemy for the first time officially recognized our status. why sta important to them, do you think? >> well, one of the core questions of the debate about this exchange is, as we know, we don't negotiate with terrorists. so in order to negotiate with the taliban and do this swap, it's an acknowledgement that officially, we don't see them as a terrorist organization, we see them as an institution with whom we can negotiate and do business. what we found in our reporting, not too surprisingly, is that they see this as going forward, an opportunity, we can get something out of the american government. we're going to go after more high-profile targets in order to do that. that's obviously very alarming. but, you know, again, in the

broader context, we're in a situation where we are pulling out of afghanistan, and the peace of that country depends less on us and our ability to intervene than it does to depend on the taliban and other organizations in afghanistan, and how committed they are to peace. and those outlooks don't look very rosy. from this perspective. >> another thing that came out of that interview, your reporter asked that commander, does this make you want to go kidnap more american soldiers. and he laughed. and his response was, definitely. it's better to kidnap one person like bergdahl than capturing hundreds of useless people. it encouraged our people, now everybody will work hard to catch such an important bird. it's not as though the taliban was uninterested in capturing american hostages, american soldiers before. should we really worry this is going to lead to future kidnappings? >> i think it's a valid worry. the taliban is also a practiced pr organization. they're taking this opportunity as much as anyone else to assert

themselves. and i think that's a little bit what we see there. they're in a position of power in this exchange. they got what they wanted and had been pushing for for a while. it's a horrible calculus to have to perform, what is one human life is worth. these are always undercurrents of war and prisoner negotiations. and they always will be. and i think that for the taliban to respond the way they are, is an assertion of what they feel now is a greater influence. >> that's absolutely right. of course, they couldn't try any harder to capture folks than they've already been trying. dana, there are still other folks out there. there's this husband and wife couple, caitlin coleman, and her husband, joshua, canadians. approximately 600 days since they were taken. we are pleading for the immediate release of them and their child. they, of course, were not soldiers, they're civilians who were traveling in afghanistan.

which we can have our own conversation about that in another blog. but basically, does the administration have a different responsibility when it comes to getting back civilians than it does getting back soldiers? >> well, it does, if you're listening to the soldiers creed, which is what obama was paraphrasing in leaving nobody behind. so there's certainly a difference there. the more important thing is, we don't want to give too much credence to the taliban's propaganda on this. this is the enemy. as you guys alluded to, it's not like they were, before this they were boy scouts earning merit badges. they were trying to hit us as hard as they could in as many ways as they could, and they'll continue to hit us as hard as they can in as many ways as they can. we sometimes need to play down the taliban propaganda here, and say, it's not as if all of a sudden all americans are much more vulnerable than they were before. we already were.

>> right. >> the debate goes on. thank you for joining us. up next, our take. we'll spin on this issue that has everybody talking. "the cycle" rolls on. it's thursday, june 5th, 2014. when jake and i first set out on our own, we ate anything. but in time you realize the better you eat, the better you feel. these days we both eat smarter. and i give jake purina cat chow naturals. made with real chicken and salmon, it's high in protein like a cat's natural diet. and no added artificial flavors. we've come a long way. and whatever's ahead, we'll be there for each other. naturally. purina cat chow naturals. ♪

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we're back with more on the bergdahl backlash and the spin. as we discussed moments ago, we're sort of seeing the scandal machine fire up, and benghazi part two. here a lot of the criticism coming at the administration is coming from democrats. yesterday, leon panetta, cia director and defense secretary

in this administration, he was speaking at an event in pittsburgh and he said he opposed a swap like this when he was a senior official. he doesn't fault the administration for wanting bergdahl back, but questions whether the restrictions are in place. the washington post reported that hillary clinton had opposed a swap like this when she was secretary of state. now one of her spokes people denied that. in a statement on -- or a public appearance on monday she was supportive of the move. she went into the same analysis that panetta did. you don't want to see these five prisoners go back to combat. on the other hand, you don't want to leave an american citizen in captivity. she alluded to it as being one of these hard choices which is why that's the title of her book about being secretary of state. that's instructive. this is really a hard choice here. we place tremendous weight on getting prisoners of war back. but it is not an absolute imperative in the sense that something can be so damaging to national security, that it's not worth doing, to secure a release like this. >> right. >> the question that serious

people like panetta and clinton can agree about is where that cost/benefit analysis shakes out. >> that's an absolutely legitimate line of inquiry, whas it worth it, the five for one. and on the other hand, when you have people like leon panetta who are very serious, questioning, i was opposed to this when we were talking about it before, i'm not sure about the conditions. on the other hand, you have people like john mccain who said before that he thought we should look at swapping prisoners from guantanamo bay tan mo. he's now in a totally different position. it undercut's the republicans' argument when they're talking about the fact that we must do everything possible to get him back, and then as soon as the president gets him back, they turn on a dime. but the thing that you're getting at here, josh, is there are legitimate lines of inquiry, and there are illegitimate lines of inquiry. one of the thing that has upset me the most is the character assassination of bowe bergdahl. we don't know what happened.

we don't have all the facts. that will be adjudicated. we know that there's going to be an investigation there. and that should not be part of the conversation. is that going to be our standard? we will rescue you, we will bring you back if we decide that we like what you did, and you're a good person? no, that's not who we are as a country. we rescue, we try to retrieve every man and woman who wears our uniform. that is the standard. we will deal with the rest in due time. but to me, that piece needs to be completely out of the conversation. >> i totally agree with that. look, this four-year dialogue on getting him back began with, we need to talk to these people. there's a chance to maybe try to end this whole situation. we cannot kill our way out of this war on terror. we need to be able to talk to them. and the a.p. notes today, this is about setting the stage for future peace in afghanistan. as long as there is severe global poverty, and chronically jobless young men around the

world, a sliver of them will blame the united states for their problems, and turn to terrorism. and unless we are talking to these folks, then we're not going to be able to actually end the conflict. in a war-weary nation, they should want to do anything we can to actually end the conflict, and diminish terrorism as much as we can. >> i'm actually ranting on this. i want to leave a little to suspense. you've all made interesting points. this whole thing gives me a terrible taste in my mouth. i feel like there are so many narratives and debates going on at the same time. nobody knows what it's about. they're asking of, should we or should we not close down guantanamo, should we release him, are his parents good parents. this has totally gotten absurd. what makes me the most upset and disgusted is we're using bergdahl and his family essentially as pawns in this whole thing. like when a family member died and it brings to the surface the emotions that you have.

that sometimes have nothing to do with that person. i think it's bringing forward deep, deep wounds and deep feelings that we all feel about this never-ending war in afghanistan. the longest war we've had in the history of this nation. let's debate the terrible handling of this from the administration. that is all fair. but leave bergdahl and his family alone. >> absolutely disgusting discussion around bob bergdahl, his father, and the criticism of him having this beard, and learning pashto. that's disgusting. he's not part of the problem, part of the conversation. he's a guy hoping to get his son back. >> what the administration is right on some level. it doesn't matter whether or not bergdahl is a deserter. the punishment for being a deserter is not being left in the hands of the taliban. but the key question here is not, is bowe bergdahl a person who is deserving of rescue. the question is, is the measure that was taken to obtain his rescue unduly risky to the safety of the united states. >> that's a judgment call.

it's not something you can investigate and say, yes, or no, this was right or wrong. the president and his team had a judgment call to make. >> right. >> they fell on that side. i can see how a reasonable person would not come down on the same place. but that's why he's -- >> they also had a judgment call on how they wanted to roll this thing out. the narrative has been terrible on this. as we said in the previous blog, there are a number of ways they could have handled this. >> i think the fixation on the pr aspect of this is misplaced. we got this guy back. did we make too much of a trade? those sort of things i find to be a reasonable conversation. but should they or should not they have done it in the rose garden, and had the bergdahls with them, or said this or that? that is ultimately -- >> looking at a video, and as -- >> absolutely. >> -- as an untrained person saying, he looks fine. >> he's clearly healthy. >> this is what the administration is doing, too.

>> the administration has medical experts who are examining video and coming to an educated conclusion. >> right. >> not like just me looking at the video and saying, he looks fine. i do want to quickly before we go highlight what kristen welker reported earlier on our air which is important, which is that the administration is saying the qataris and their intelligence indicated that his life was in jeopardy. they were losing confidence that he was of value to keep. so he was in danger. every day that he was held by them is a day he could have died. they had very deep awareness of the risk they were running the longer he stayed there. >> we better hope we can rely on the qataris. this release isn't dangerous because they can't go back to afghanistan, i don't entirely understand how that works, how you prevent him from leaving the country. but we will see open hoe. >> we have to trust them, i guess, as you said. the results of a new gm internal investigation. what did the company know and when did they know it. that's up next in your news cycle.

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that corporate trial by fire when every slacker gets his due. and yet, there's someone around the office who hasn't had a performance review in a while. someone whose poor performance is slowing down the entire organization. i'm looking at you phone company dsl. check your speed. see how fast your internet can be. switch now and add voice and tv for $34.90. comcast business built for business.

the new cycle begins with an explanation, but few specifics from gm's new ceo about those deadly ignition switch defects. mary barra who's been on the job about five months told reporters this morning that the company suffered from incompetence and neglect. she didn't offer details as to why the problem dragged out for 11 years. >> well, clearly there were a number of safety recalls that occurred over this period. some fairly significant. i wish i had known. the minute we knew, we took action. i believe in my heart had we known, we would have dealt with this matter at the right period of time and we wouldn't have had the tragic consequences. >> another consequence of the scandal is 15 gm employees are out of a job. more than half of them were in senior or executive roles, including one of the automaker's top lawyers. north of the border, a manhunt

is under way in a normally sleepy little canadian town that right now remains under siege by a suspected cop killer. three officers are dead, two others are hurt from the shooting rampage in a place called monkdone. the 24-year-old suspect managed to elude police for nearly a day now. he's been spotted all around town dressed in camouflage and carrying two rifles. schools are closed. mail delivery canceled. and everyone has been ordered to stay inside. as we approach three months since the disappearance of malaysian airlines flight 370, australian searchers are shifteding their focus to another area of the ocean. that was based on a new analysis of communications from the jumbo jet. the massive search area still spans more than 17,000 square miles. a baseball legend has passed away. don zimmer passed away down in

florida. he played infield for the only brooklyn dodgers team to win a world series. he was on the original lineup of the new york mets. he managed the red sox when i was a kid. but some of the most famous years were spent next to yankees manager joe torre as bench coach on four world series championship teams. don zimmer was 83. though always a kid at heart. tomorrow we commemorate the 70th anniversary of the d-day invasion that bent the arc of history toward freedom. we will honor those who fought and made the ultimate sacrifice through the fog of terror on those normandy beaches, and above the deafening sounds of mortar fire. one thing could be heard above all, the unmistakable cry for a medic. they made split-second decisions to determine life or death. in the worst of conditions often without a weapon, because they're too busy to save others'

lives to worry about their own. dr. peter reid wrote a book called "trauma red: the making of a surgeon in war in american cities." he shares intimate details as a navy captain trauma surgeon, to civilian days where he was in charge of saving the life of congresswoman gabrielle giffords. and nine other victims in that tucson mass shooting. we're so honored to have here with us on the set, dr. rei. thank you so much, sir, for being here with us. >> thank you so much for the privilege. >> so tomorrow is the anniversary of d-day. i was hoping you could start by sharing some of the stories and experience of being a navy trauma surgeon. you talk about how selfless some of the wounded soldiers were, that you were trying -- that you were working on. also, you talk about how challenging it is to sort of get at morale, to work on and help people who were fighting against americans. >> well, i think that the -- first, it's an absolute

privilege to be able to serve those who serve. and when you're in military medicine, that's what you look for. and after all those years of training, for me to be able to go out there and do battle in my own way, was one of the best experiences i ever had. but, you know, we're also fortunate that, you know, i work for a government that lets me take care of not only our own wounded troops, but also the civilians, and enemy combatants as well. i don't think that's something that is recognized, that we have that kind of luxury and privilege. so, you know, as a medical personnel, i'm not there in a fight. i don't have to make decisions about killing people, or getting hurt. all i had to do is take care of anybody that was wounded that came in front of me. so it was really a great experience for me. >> as krystal mentioned, you

were one of the physicians treating the victims in tucson in 2011. take us back to that day. >> well, it was a rare day off. but i was actually doing my run. and during that time period, i got a text that said that we had ten people that were shot. and so i started to hustle back in, to go into the hospital. it was during that time period when one of my lead surgeons that was on call, called me and let me know one of the injured persons was a congresswoman. fortunately, everybody did well. especially the people who were hurt. but i think the team did well. and ended up having as good of a result as we could have. >> we often think, we hear a trauma surgeon, we think of "grey's anatomy," dr. dreamy and this glamorous life, which is very far from reality. and you tell a story in your book about that very day, even after gabby gifford came in after the shooting, just hours later, you had five other folks that you had to work on. this is every single day for you.

help us better understand what the day in the life of your job is. >> yes. it can be nonstop. and it just makes you wonder, you know, what we're doing in society, to be in that type of situation. but also, you know, what we're finding out in the last ten years, trauma epidemiology is teaching quite a bit. and while cancer and heart disease are decreasing in deaths in the middle age, the trauma is increasing tremendously. and it's not just acts of violence, but just us being active and being around, whether it's cars or falling off things. trauma is a big part of what we do. but that thing, it's a shame in some sense that -- >> how did you balance it all? >> well, you balance it because you just go on what's needed. who's going to die if you're not there. what i do is a time sensitive issue, so you don't have time to think, you just have to act and be available. >> when you're taking care of military men who are down, who have made this ultimate sacrifice to serve our country

in this way, i imagine there's got to be an extra sort of emotional connection to them that you really want to help them even more than the average civilian you might encounter. my sister's a doctor and she talks about the emotional connection that she and doctors of her generation feel toward patients, and she says the older doctors are saying, this is not the way we do things, we need to be more scientific and more cold. where do you fall, and how do you navigate that sort of emotional connection that you're developing toward these people that you're dying to see? >> well, i think in my field it's a little bit different. because when we're up all night long, and we've got an onslaught of people coming in continuously, what happens is that my residents are focusing on what medical things that they have to do to keep people alive. and i'm actually trying to focus on saying, look, let's think about this person more than just a body. their soul, their families. and concentrate on figuring out who they are so we can put them back into society the way they were. but after doing this for as many

years as i have, i will tell you, the memories that i have during wartime, when we're actually taking care of our own troops and you see those brave soldiers out there, the emotional relationship you have with them are quite unique. >> i can only imagine. in addition to the great work that you do day to day, you've also pioneered a new technology that involves cooling the body down and sort of bringing it back to work on it. tell us about that. >> we can do that in a controlled setting, such as heart surgery and neurosurgery. but we found a way we can actually cool the brain and heart down so quickly, that in a trauma setting, that if they just died we might be able to extend the death time period and not have you really die for about an hour or two, trying to save you and fix the holes that you bled from. we're really excited about this, because it's going into clinical trials. it will start with the university of pittsburgh and maryland, and we hope tucson is next in line. >> you're technically dead and brought back. >> technically dead but brought

back. so you're not dead. >> wow. >> it really redefines what dead is. >> that's incredible. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you for having me. up next, the definitive list of 54 movies you must see in your life. did your movie make the cut? my name is jenny, and i quit smoking with chantix.

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we begin our discussion of great films with the greatest film of all-time. >> give me justice. you're not asking for respect. you don't offer friendship. you don't even think to call me godfather. >> i think that was the wrong

slot, because the best movie of all-time is obviously -- >> you, my friend, are responsible for delaying my rendezvous with star command. >> you are a toy! >> you are such a child. >> you're a geezer. >> al pacino. >> tom hanks. >> francis ford cop oh la. >> toys. >> fortunately, like woody allen, out of nowhere, to win an argument in annie hall, one of the greatest film critics of all-time, right here. new book, not to be missed, goes into depth on 54 of his favorite films of all-time. including vertigo, chinatown and godfather. please explain why the godfather is one of the greatest movies of all-time? >> one thing is, you can't stop watching it. i was looking at this clip and i wanted to see the rest of the movie. it pulls you compulsively

forward. it's hard to meet people who can resist this film. >> that's right. >> good point. toure does win because godfather is in the main list. toy story makes it to the honorable mention in the list that you have. why did it get the shaft? isn't it the best movie of all-time? >> this is one of the interesting things about this book is everyone is upset in my own home, my own wife is mad at me because her favorite film made the second list. i love all these films. they're like people to me. it was very, very hard to bring it down to 52. and some wonderful films just didn't quite make it. >> talk to us about these two lists. why are there two lists? >> wait, what is her favorite film? >> your wife's favorite? >> her favorite film was to kill a mocking bird. >> why is that on the second list? that doesn't make any sense. >> this is personal. i think one of the things people don't realize about film critics is what we do is deeply personal. this is not, god doesn't whisper to us and tell us what the good films are. this is what resonates to you,

what really moves you. and it was very hard to get it down to 52. but i love so many films i had to put another list in. one of the things you want to do is you want to introduce great films to people. just the more films i could mention, there's a chance people will see it, read it, watch it, have a good time. >> one of my favorite movies that made your list is casablanca. but everybody loves it. do we really need another book talking about how good casablanca is? and you were like, no, i have to stick up for it. why, 72 years ago, this movie came out. why has it had such staying power as a classic? >> it's like the ultimate hollywood film in some way. this is all the classic stuff we like in hollywood. it's romantic, exotic, it's got big stars. but it's just really moving in a way that's really not the norm for hollywood. it really gets deep inside us. and people love this film. and as i said, after that, as you said this person kind of took a hit at it. i said, i'll watch it again and

see what i think. i fell in love with it all over again. it's a wonderful film. >> another classic film, though in a very different way, is this one. take a look. that is, of course, dr. strangelove, or how i learned to stop worrying and love the bomb, which anybody who sees that, it's so iconic. people instantly know what film is comes from. it's also that the movie is such a product of its time, such a political movie. did you weigh considerations of how they fit into their time or how timeless they are when you're coming up with this list? >> i really don't. it's really what connects with me. it has to be that personal. i have to live with this list, i have to defend it. i think dr. strangelove is

relevant today. fears of nuclear war, we're living with them still. i say, i felt these films, the ones i neglected, the ones i put on the second list, i felt them calling out to me. they said, ken, you love us, don't leave us on the shelf. >> maybe that is the voice of god. you don't know. >> it was painful making this list. >> let's tell the folks about a movie they can watch on netflix tonight. one of the great modern documentaries about one of the great race car drivers of today. >> oh, yeah. sena, i'm not particularly a car person. i grew up in new york, i didn't even drive until i was in my 20s. and i saw this film and it just blew me away. he was such a remarkable individual. some people think he was the greatest grand prix driver who ever lived. he was handsome, charismatic, soulful. everyone loved him. he had this insane life. they go back and they talk to people who knew him. and they made an interesting

choice. you don't see any of these voices on screen, you just see footage from the time. so you go completely into senna's world. >> i'm not a film critic, and toure reminds me every day it is a true talent that you can be a good film critic. so kudos to you. do you know right away when you're watching a film, within the first few minutes, if it is going to be great or if it's going to be a bomb? >> the great ones you know at once. there are so many films -- sometimes you see a film in a bad mood, and you're thinking, what am i doing here, and the film starts and it just grabs you. and you think, oh, my god, this is it. this is why i have this job and love these experiences. the great films you know at once, others take a while. >> we've definitely watched films that have a great first act, second act, third act has to stick the landing to be a great film. you may not know it until the 90 minutes are finished. >> that's absolutely true. a lot of films do fall apart.

you think, couldn't they have won the kentucky derby with this film, they ran so close? but the ones that go all the way through the end like the godfather, you just say, wow, they really nailed it. >> kenneth, your list has a lot of iconical classics, the godfather, casablanca. what's something most readers won't be aware that they should have seen, if they pick up your book they hope they'll go out and watch? >> oh, gosh, there's so many. i saw this when i was a kid and it stuck with me for 50 years, i was a fugitive from a chain gang. this is a soltly conscious hollywood film from the 1930s. who knew they did socially conscious films in those days. when i saw it as a kid, i couldn't believe a hollywood film was allowed to have an ending like that. it was so despairing. i thought, oh, my god, this can't be real. they can't do things like this. the film still has the power today. >> summer blockbuster season is upon us.

what should we be watching this summer? >> oh, gosh, i just saw "edge of tomorrow" which is opening tomorrow. i was very pleasantly surprised. new tom cruise movie with emily blunt. science fiction. usually these are kind of boring. this one is smarter. this is involving. i would really push people to see that one. >> what about millisiscent? >> i was in cannes when this film opened. i'm dying to see it myself. >> there's a great line in the introduction where you talk about the films you love describe who you are. that's what this book is all about, right? >> it really is. i mean, putting this book together was so interesting. it really gave me kind of unexpected insight into what i think is important. dealing with films and what you like and don't like over the course of decades, has really made me understand more, not to sound too, you know, grandiose about it. just what's important to me. >> that's right.

ken, thank you very much. up next, why the debate over the bergdahl release does not tell the whole story. let's go down abby's road. ♪

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call... today. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? sides. afghanistan, the nation's longest war we see more evidence, the debate around bowe bergdahl is just the latest example. the story has take on so many legs in the past four days but it's clear that no matter what susan rice said on sunday, bowe bergdahl left his post under what can be best described as

suspicious circumstances. it's also clear that the apparent white house plan to make the swap a rallying call for an end to the war or what some are calling a plan to close the prison at guantanamo by trading the worst of the worst of the taliban has now flopped. monday i went on "the view" and i applauded the swap would open a door to start a dialogue with the taliban. i stand by that. the more we learn about the specific deal, the nastier it gets. chris matthews expressed my feelings perfect last night. to say the trade is messy is an understatement which does not mean it wasn't the only deal there was. to get sergeant bergdahl released we had to do something disrespectable, the trade of prisoners was not the stuff of celebration. >> of course the relationship between congress and the president. as if the white house could do anything to make it worse, yesterday they called in a bunch of senators for a closed door briefing with pentagon officials

to double down on secretary hagel's claim that bergdahl was in terrible health. not only did the meeting fail to meet consensus, it added fuel to the fire. this is what democratic senator joe manchin said after leaving the meeting yesterday. >> that did not sell me at all. proof of life, five months ago, december, he was impaired. that is not the person released here. he was not in that type of dire situation. >> senator and foreign relations committee member jay rockefeller saying, i don't like it when the white house says intelligence committees were brief because we weren't. i haven't had hey conversation with the white house on this year in a year and a half. this administration is more arrogant than i thought they were. as far as briefing the foreign relations committee, take a listen to what senator saxby chambliss had to say. >> three very close to mullah omar, the guy that founded the taliban.

so mullah omar is celebrating today because he got his new board of directors where with these five guys and they say the qataris are going to monitor them, yeah. you think i believe that? >> democrats are conflicted, some even pissed off. they want to support the president but this is too much more many to swallow. and to round things out, hearing that a plan to welcome home for bergdahl in his hometown has been canceled. why? the town got scared, as both the pro and anti-bowe brigades kept planning and, worse, talking. this is a mess. we all have our feelings on why, but no matter where you stand on this trade, the white house or on bergdahl and his family, this mess belongs to all of us. a decade plus of war with very few, if any, results to show for it. that is the big problem. no matter what anyone says, this is the real story here. let's hope my generation and america in the future remembers this as our foreign policy

evolves post afghanistan and make sure using bowe bergdahl and his family as pawns in this war and aftermath never ever happen again. that does it for "the cycle." "now" starts right now. >> time for the "your business" entrepreneur of the week. jessica johnson fell in over her head when she took over her dad's security business five years ago. but with confidence and hard work, she grew the company from 16 to more than 150 employees and beat out bigger names for big contracts. watch "your business," sundays, 7:30 on msnbc. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something.

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years. >> i've been to war. i know something about this. >> this entire thing about gitmo. >> we saw an opportunity and we seized it, i make no apologies. >> the administration briefed members of congress in a classified meeting. >> we saw this as a last best chance to get sergeant bergdahl. >> the right decision for the right reason. >> how much leeway does the executive branch have when it comes to transferring detainees. >> shouldn't be using president ner exchange as a way to close down gitmo. >> it's impossible for them to flow presidenter ier in >> it's impossible for them to flow presidenter ier i >> it's impossible for them to flow presidenter ier in >> it's impossible for them to flow presidenter ier prisoners >> people on our side calling for his impeachment. >> i'm richard wolffe, in for alex wagner. as the uproar continues over the prisoner swap for bowe bergdahl, president obama is doubling down on the deal. at a press