Rating of
2.5/4
"Good Night And Good Luck" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 05/21/12
George Clooney directs and stars in the story of Edward R. Murrow, a television reporter who was the only one courageous enough take on the McCarthy witch-hunt of the 1950s. Well crafted, shot in atmospheric black and white and intercut with actual footage from the time, the sense of period is spot on but it is the parallels with modern day america that are the obvious point to this film. It opens with Murrow's denunciation of TV, which he says has become nothing but a distraction and insulation from the important events of the outside world. In the meantime senator McCarthy is judge, jury and executioner for suspects with "anti-American" sentiments who are condemned without trial, or even a shred of hard evidence. Murrow himself, whose program was attacked by the far right for slanting the facts using left wing bias and quotations taken out of context (sound familiar Mr. Moore?) was targeted in a similar smear campaign for his efforts. It seems not much has changed in the last 50 years...As a film, I'd have to say the lack of characterisation of the individuals meant little in the way of emotional drama; the suicide of a colleague and resignation of a married couple to save the jobs of others seemed soapy and rather tacked on. It won't change the world, but it uses the medium to make an intelligent political point, and has a simple honesty and integrity that Morrow would've have approved of.
