Good Night, and Good Luck
We are all fat, lazy and complacent. We use television as a way of switching our minds off to what is going on in the world around us. The media has great potential to educate, to promote political debate, to bring about justice, yet we are contented with air-headed trash if it brings in a few bucks through advertising.
This is the message that Edward Murrow gives to a room of CBS employees in 1958, but one that could apply equally today. In his second film as director, which was shot when the ‘war on terror’ was in full swing, Clooney offers a rebuke to contemporary US journalists who lose sight of the truth because they are too concerned with appeasing advertisers and the government. Clooney can’t be accused of falling into this camp: he was paid $1 each for writing, directing, and acting in the film and even offered to mortgage his house in order to fund it. Clooney would have been familiar with newsrooms of this era because his father was a news anchor for some 30 years.
Good Night, and Good Luck is an excellent chronicle of the era of Senator McCarthy’s anti-communist witch hunts and a group of reporters who valiantly fought to oppose him, at risk of their freedom and livelihoods. This taught drama takes us back to the CBS newsroom of the 1950’s where a group of professional news people seek to discredit the bullying tactics of Senator Joseph McCarthy during his crusade to root out all traces of communism from government and society.
At the centre of the operation is the aforementioned Edward Murrow (an excellent David Strathairn), a television journalist above reproach, who made a name for himself reporting from the rooftops in the thick of London’s blitz. Murray believes McCarthy to be a liar and a bully, and makes no bones about saying so on air, even when it means losing sponsorship, and potentially his reputation. In order to expose the corrupt tactics of McCarthy, Murray explores the case of Milo Radulovich, who was facing separation from the U.S. Air Force because of his sister’s political leanings and because his father subscribed to a Serbian newspaper. Murray’s boldness results in a tense showdown between journalist and politician, in which McCarthy accuses Murray himself of being a communist, thus implicating his colleagues and friends (McCarthy assumed guilt by association).
Shot in black and white, through heavy shadows and a permanent haze of cigarette smoke, Good Night, and Good Luck conjures up the sense of repression and sustained paranoia that characterised the McCarthy era, and lends the film an air of authenticity. In a stroke of genius, Clooney uses actual news footage of McCarthy, exposing the senator for what he was - a coward, a bully and a thug. It’s quite scary to see him in full flow, but equally, his wild accusations against Murrow are almost humorous, the talk of a man possessed. Evocative jazz interludes from Dianne Reeves reflect the general mood, rather than offering specific commentary on proceedings.
Thankfully, the film avoids the pitfalls of sentiment and nostalgia that tend to swamp period dramas. The action revolves entirely around politics and the news business. The camera always films close up to the action, in anonymous studios and staff rooms, yet the feeling of claustrophobia that this creates is balanced by a definite sense of camaraderie between the journalists. Whilst some are nervier than others when it comes to defying authority, they believe in the fundamental American freedoms and defend their cause with vigour and selflessness, putting righteous protest before careerism.
David Strathairn gives a brilliantly sensitive performance as Murrow. He has mastered the journalist’s mannerisms - the dry underplayed wit, the silences that speak volumes, the quiet but genuine concern for his subjects, and his unflinching determination. Clooney pitches himself as Murray’s friendly and straight-talking right hand man.
Goodnight, and Good Luck is an intense and highly relevant examination of a dark era of American history. Scripted an acted with integrity, it is a pleasure to watch.
