message in the movies By Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

            
Good Night, and Good Luck   Rated PG
Directed by George Clooney. Starring David Strathairn George Clooney


 
Photo © Copyright Warner Independent Pictures
Remember a time when a high official in the United States government accused people of being un-American and aiding the enemy if they associated with the wrong kind of people?  Remember a time when the media was afraid of criticizing the government for fear of reprisal?  No, I’m not talking about last week, but about a half-century ago when Senator Joseph McCarthy led an official investigation to uncover Communists in our midst.  Although some of McCarthy’s claims have now proven to be legitimate, many innocent lives were destroyed as the country became polarized with fear.  Edward R. Murrow was a respected journalist with CBS who had paid his dues reporting World War II from Europe.  He decided to use his position as a media authority to challenge Senator McCarthy on the air during his editorial segments.  Good Night, and Good Luck is a recreation of four news broadcasts and the courage of Murrow and his team who had the courage to persuade a network to speak out against tyranny.  Murrow’s hunch proved to be correct; McCarthy was later investigated by the government and officially censured. Shot in black-and-white, this film uses archival footage of McCarthy alongside the actors.  This is an intelligent film that is unencumbered with fictional subplots.  Jazz singer Dianne Reeves beautifully performs 50’s standards as musical bridges between scenes, but there are no musical cues on the soundtrack to tell the audience what to feel.  This film is not only a decent history lesson about early TV journalism, but also a morality play that hits home today and suggests that there is no better antidote to fear than a commitment to human decency. 

Pitchfork Rating: Five halos.  (Intelligent and smart filmmaking about true patriotism.)  One pitchfork. (For brief and rare instances of swearing as well as the fever-pitched ravings of McCarthy himself.)

 

past movie reviews