The truth is out there — isn’t that what The X-Files promised us, in hushed conspiratorial tones? — the truth, as if it were some absolute gospel according to the highest of high authorities. The truth, beyond facts and figures, beyond details and evidence; the truth, as it is, without perspective or slant, beyond point of view. The truth.

That elusive, ephemeral thing is quite possibly the greatest riddle ever, the alpha and omega of a question with no answer, easy or otherwise.

And like a modern-day Don Quixote, screenwriter-turned-director James Vanderbilt (the two Amazing Spider-Man installments) sets his sights on the Mary Mapes account of the firestorm that erupted over the 60 Minutes report, back in 2004, on then-President George W. Bush’s military record. Did Bush use the influence of his politically connected father to bypass mandatory duties and assignments as part of his service in the National Guard? Could the paper trail be trusted? How could it be substantiated?

The ensuing fallout claimed the careers of Dan Rather (Robert Redford) and Mapes (Cate Blanchett), the producer of the segment in question. And like any knight-errant worth the armor encasing his soft eager flesh, Vanderbilt presses on, with pen and camera (his trusty sword and shield) to write (right) the wrong.

But, his (re)writing of the Mapes version of the situation reveals the obvious flaws in such an endeavor, from the start.

The report, the trigger that gets squeezed, appears as if from on high, too good to be true, and the ensuing chase to confirm it unfolds with all of the choreographed ease of a rom-com montage. Mapes and her rag-tag team — freelance firebrand journalist Mike Smith (Topher Grace), academic-minded Lucy Scott (Elisabeth Moss) and former military man Lt. Colonel Roger Charles (Dennis Quaid) — have a couple of quick conversations with the right informants and experts at the right time, while puffing themselves up with false modesty and dreams of “doing the right thing.”

Smith, the supposedly hard-nosed cynic, gets dewy-eyed and suitably flummoxed when he has a moment with Rather, the real veteran in the news game, and blunders his way into asking the kind of question about ideals and getting at the truth that only a kid taking his first journalism class in high school could ever be excused for asking. You find yourself wanting to smack him for being so naïve, but if you lay a hand on him, you’ll quickly realize you would be forced to administer a similar beat down on every character and ultimately the film itself. The film tragically mirrors what must have happened in real life. The truth, it tricks the best of us.

I caught Truth at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, later than many of my critical brethren. I had already watched Black Mass, Scott Cooper’s highly calculated take on the infamous Whitey Bulger (Johnny Depp); The Program, the deeply flawed Stephen Frears examination into the performance drug scandal that took down Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong (Ben Foster); and Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight (by far the best of this investigative bunch), which burrowed deeply into the Boston Globe’s reporting of the scandalous cover-up within the Catholic Church. Spotlight was the only film that understood the stakes and dared to illustrate that uncovering the truth requires effort, time spent tracking down leads, wandering down (sometimes dangerous) dead ends. It is not for the faint of heart — or stars seeking clips for their Oscar moments.

It seems unfair, at this point, to mention the gritty and frazzled performance from Blanchett, who stands head and shoulders above the story and everyone in the frames with her. Vanderbilt, to his credit, trains his spotlight squarely on Blanchett, and she delivers, even when scripted moments conspire against her. Hero worshipping and speechifying threaten to dominate the proceedings, but Blanchett cuts through the posturing. She slips much-needed humanity into the character, a proud woman who realizes too late how flawed her approach was (despite holding onto the belief that she and her team were still right).

Truth belongs to Blanchett. It is not really a search for the absolute truth (that was never its point). This was Mapes’s story, her imperfect version of what happened, and Blanchett makes sure we see and appreciate this presentable version of Mapes. Truth be damned. (tt stern-enzi) (R) Grade: B-