Good Night, and Good Luck

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Directed by: George Clooney
4 stars
::spoiler alert::

I think it’s well-established by now that I don’t like talking about movies within 24 hours of viewing them.

That being said, not five minutes after exiting the theatre, I told my friend, “I can say with 99.5% certainty that I will not veer from this opinion right now. I liked this movie.”

True to its era, true to its integrity, true to its message, George Clooney did a great job. The use of the band (incidentally his late aunt Rosemary Clooney’s band) as Greek Chorus was brilliant. I loved how he wasn’t afraid to let a moment run its course. To focus on a character, even when that character is not speaking or really doing much of anything at all besides subtly reacting. To keep the humor in what was a terrifying time in American politics. To brave a black and white film as an allegory for the (incorrect) assumption that a person could be only one of two extremes: either with McCarthy (loyal American) or against him (“pink,” a “pinko,” “red,” a Communist or Communist sympathizer).

David Strathairn was brilliant as Edward R. Murrow, the journalist who braved the wrath of having the guts to question McCarthy & his scare tactics. Murrow was an oxymoron; in his soft-spoken way, he proved to be a force to reckon with. Strathairn played him with restraint and delicate humor.

Drug/Legal problems be damned … Robert Downey Jr. is an actor’s actor. & I cannot get enough of Patricia Clarkson. Ray Wise was a great addition to the cast as well.

In the political climate which is modern-day America, with news stories exposing the Bush administration as involved in the authorization of warrentless electronic surveillance of people within the United States, including U.S. citizens, by the NSA, this films is all the more important. I wish every single person in the United States would watch this movie.

Those who forget the lessons of history are destined to repeat them.

Let’s not forget the terrors of McCarthyism.