Film Reviews

Good Night, And Good Luck

• Rating:
• Director: George Clooney
• Starring: David Strathairn
• Details: US, 90mins, PG.

In 1953 Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist witch-hunt envelops America, turning friend against friend in his search for 'reds under the beds'. Seeing this fear-mongering for what it is, respected CBS news reporter Edward R. Murrow (Strathairn) and his long standing producer Fred Friendly (Clooney) decide to halt the tide before it gets out of hand. However, their actions take a terrible toll on the two men as the McCarthy's net closes in. Soon every one of the news team is under pressure to stop their continuing reports.
Written and directed by Clooney, Goodnight And Good Luck (the actual sign-off statement by Murrow) is, at its heart, a sharp diatribe against the diminished civil liberties the American people have been subjected to post-9/11. Clooney and his Section 8 partner (and producer) Steven Soderbergh join with Jim Carrey's Fun With Dick And Jane vehicle to poke the ribs of Bush's administration. While the latter concentrated on the jokes, Goodnight and Good Luck is a more sombre affair and this is reflected in Clooney's direction. Shot in stark black and white, the cramped, smoke-filled newsrooms complement Clooney's static camera, giving a claustrophobic atmosphere to the tense story. Strathairn, in his first leading role, takes centre stage and Clooney places the camera right into his steely, deadpan face as he delivers his lines straight to camera, offering no escape as he tells it like it is: "We cannot defend freedom abroad when we desert it at home." Are we heading for a golden age in cinema when 2006 offers two mainstream Hollywood movies that attempt to turn the tide against their own government? And it's not even February.

Review by Gavin Burke