| Product: |
Good Night and Good Luck (DVD) |
| Date: |
11/08/06 (143 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Powerful, extraordinary, superbly acted.
Disadvantages: Black & white... and some people might not like that!
A man in power uses his position to hunt down and demonise those he doesn’t like, those who argue against him and those that try to stand up to him are tarred with the same brush and treated the same way. The press back away for fear of losing readers or being clamped down on themselves.
Everyone has heard of witch hunts of these kinds in the past or in less democratic countries than in the west but who would have thought that this happened less than 50 years ago in the most powerful country in the world? Just the basic description of what Senator McCarthy did sounds like something from the middle ages!
How did such an inconsequential junior Senator manage to hold America in his thrall, to scare everyone so much they let him get away with it and ride roughshod over the laws and people of his own country?
Good Night And Good Luck is the story of Ed Murrow, the TV newsman for CBS who, along with his team, set about standing up to Senator McCarthy and his witch hunt for communists ‘hidden’ in American society in the early 1950’s
David Straithairn plays Murrow, an intelligent, serious new broadcaster who believes that TV can bring serious news stories to the public and make them think. Murrow has built a career and is renowned enough yet he pretty much has carte blanche over what he puts in his show, a kind of Panorama/Newsnight type. He regularly attacks McCarthy and his witch hunts and this makes him a rarity. Nobody dares criticise the man. He is known to attack his accusers and declare them communists because they dare to challenge him.
The film dramatises Murrow and his team as they set about trying to report on McCarthy and bring him down before he manages to turn America into a country where no one will feel safe or be able to trust their neighbour, a country where free speech will vanish into a culture of fear.
What amazed me the most about this film is the incredible use of real McCarthy footage, at least I assume it is real footage it does look like it but it is scattered into the actual storyline so effectively that you would think that they did actually film it.
The whole film is shot in B&W, as it would have been seen at the time, and this means that you get a real feel for the era, almost as if you were watching a History Channel documentary at some stages, only the appearance of recognisable actors reminding you that this is actually a film.
There is more to Good Night Good Luck than just the whole McCarthy attacks. While it is was the film is about and the focus is heavily on Murrow there is still time, and ability from the scriptwriters, to give us some great secondary characters. A subplot involving Robert Downey jr & Patricia Clarkson does not have a connection to the main storyline but does have a poignant reminder to it, considering the focus of the film on personal freedoms. Again it is hard to imagine the way attitudes have changed in what is essentially such a short period of time.
On the other hand it is intriguing to see that even then America had a problem with its governments policies. Murrow questions the ‘American policy in the middle east’ at one stage and as we know things haven’t changed even now!
The essence of the film can be summed by one line Murrow (I think) utters during the film… its about the ‘struggle to preserve our American liberties’ and it shows an insight into a particularly nasty time in America’s history, a time when they should have known better, but still managed to illustrate how easily people will do as they are told, don’t buck authority and often believe what they are told by an authority figure.
David Straithairn puts in a stunning performance as Murrow, alongside George Clooney as Friendly, his producer, he shows how great acting ability can elevate a film. As I said sometimes you almost forget you are watching a film and what better statement can there be about an actor than saying you think you are watching a documentary?
Summary: A fabulous film that will hold you tight in its fist while watching.
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