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Directed by George Clooney
Written by Grant Heslov and George Clooney
Rated PG
Starring David Strathairn, George Clooney, Robert Downey Jr., Patricia Clarkson, Frank Langella, Jeff Daniels, Ray Wise, Dianne Reeves, and Joseph McCarthy
Good Night, and Good Luck is a strong piece of filmmaking, very lean, very tight, and very impactful. It tells the story of Edward R. Murrow, a CBS newsman, who, in the 1950s, attacks Joe McCarthy and his Communist witchhunts on his news program. It's the story of a small news team overcoming obstacles in the face of adversity, yes, and it does that beautifully, but it also calls into question the larger issue of objectivity versus responsibility, and is a careful, fine-tuned study in the medium of television reporting.
The movie is entirely in black and white, and often uses real film clips from the time period, which lends a certain accuracy and realism to the characters that we normally wouldn't feel. Most of the main actors we recognize, but even George Clooney's persona seems to fade away behind the near-documentary style shooting of the scenes in the newsroom. We're actually there, and this is really what it looked like.
A lot of that realism can be attributed to two things. The first is footage of McCarthy himself. He's not played by an actor but rather himself, in videos of him during the actual time period. When he appears on Murrow's program to defend himself against Murrow's attacks (and take the opportunity to attack Murrow at the same time), that's actually him, exactly what he said, exactly why he said it. The film is unashamed to use as much archived footage as possible, and what results is a curious breed between real and staged that blurs the lines.
The second is the casting of character actor David Strathairn as Edward Murrow. Clooney was wise not to cast himself as Murrow, which would've been tempting considering he looks more like the real guy than Strathairn does (Clooney plays Fred Friendly, Murrow's producer). But Strathairn's entire look fits the period, and the way he plays Murrow is entirely suited to the setting. He also achieves likability by imbuing a sense of strong character through a man of such few words.
A lot of reviews have said the movie idolizes Murrow and his team, presenting too black-and-white a picture to hold resonance. I disagree--what the movie cares more about is the aformentioned question of journalistic integrity. These protests against McCarthy and the HUAC are opinions: bias at their very core. What about objectivity? Murrow argues that the difference between right and wrong, and the power to do the right thing, is more important than keeping a false face of balance between what he so clearly saw as a bad situation.
As strong--and as correct--as that assertion seems, I fear that the meaning will be misunderstood in today's America as a call for protest against the government by those who should remain objective. The McCarthy hearings were not about left vs. right; they were about much more than that: freedom, lives being destroyed, and what true patriotism means.
I feel that I haven't quite given the movie justice in this oddly meandering and mildly repetitive review, so here's the short version: Good Night, and Good Luck tells the story that you may not know, but you'll want to learn. Its production values creatively succeed, it tells its story with no frills, and the acting is quite strong. Most of all, it is directed by the sure hand of George Clooney. Over time he has put being simply a celebrity behind actually striving to be a part of solid, intelligent movies. He proves here that he is a sublimely thoughtful filmmaker.
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