Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)

A stylized period piece of exceptional quality, "Good Night, and Good Luck." is the true story of CBS journalist Edward R. Murrow and his quest to end the arbitrary terror of Sen. Joseph McCarthy. There is little here in the way of romance or action, and almost none of it takes place outside of the CBS studios, but within those walls the battle of words takes on almost a thriller-like quality masked in skinny ties, cigarette smoke and grainy stock footage.

A wonderfully gifted cast has come together under the talented, yet still green director, George Clooney, to give a glimpse of the media world of the time and how public opinion was shaped by the fears of an entire company by one man. Murrow calls his associate yellow at one point to which Fred Friendly (Clooney) automatically retorts, "Better than red." Such was the mentality and what Murrow rather unintentionally sets himself up against.

He hosts a Tuesday night program called "People to People" where he does simple interviews with celebrities and folks in that have made the news that week. He repeatedly asserts, as does Clooney I imagine (somewhat hypocritically, though), that the media should be there to educated, not simply to entertain. He is wearied by interviews with the Liberace's of his world and his decidedly left-leaning convictions lead him to doing a report on Milo Radulovich, an Air Force pilot who was asked to leave as it was determined, though without any sort of a trial and without the people being informed of the evidence against him, that he was a communist.

It is dangerous to take on the true patriotism of McCarthy, warns the head of CBS (Frank Langella), but for Murrow fear for oneself cannot interfere with the truth being known. What follows is a battle of politics, reporters against politicians, reporters against the armed forces, and reporters against themselves. There are side plots, there basically to give added dimensions to the cast of characters present and a fuller vision of the news world, but we mainly see Murrow and the cold, methodical way in which he thrusts his spear into the gut of the Red Scare.

David Strathairn is wonderful as Murrow. Heavy bags under his eyes reflect the pressure of his position, or at least how he sees himself. He is Prometheus bringing fire to the ignorant television watchers of America, stolen from the mighty hands of the untouchable and fearful god, McCarthy. His punishment may be the bird of prey ripping out his liver for eternity--a blacklisting--but the freedom of the people from the tyranny of the senator and his reckless abandonment of decency is too important for him to think of himself. Strathairn's acting is meticulous. He so completely embodies Murrow he seemed more a ghost from the past than an actor on the screen.

This is compounded, in large part, by the cinematography, the lighting and the sets. It is shot in black and white, which I thought was a gimmick at first. It was only later when stock footage of actual interviews and trials became used so often that I realized what an important purpose it played. Clooney could have decided to make it in color and it would still have worked well as a film, but in shades of gray there is no difference in appearance between what we are watching and what they watch on the television, which is central to the movie. The stock footage blends seamlessly in with the characters that we are watching, that with the actors so completely embodying a 1950's world it becomes easier to imagine these big name actors as their characters having interviews with Liberace or McCarthy. The real people in the film then become actors themselves, or the actors become real people. In either case the line is blurred and that is an incredible feat.

The film is very short, under 90 minutes, and cut clean of any unnecessaries that might bog it down. The polished result is a wonderfully acted and beautifully shot political statement about the power of a television screen, and leaves the unsettling conclusion that although there are some men in the world who fight for their beliefs and what their country stands for, there are others out there who would prey upon the fears of weaker men for their gain. What we think to be truth might not be all sides of the story and that is a frightening prospect.

4/4