Good Night, And Good Luck

We will not walk in fear of one another.

In the early 1950's, the threat of Communism created an air of paranoia in the United States and exploiting those fears was Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. However, CBS reporter Edward R. Murrow and his producer Fred W. Friendly decided to take a stand and challenge McCarthy and expose him for the fear monger he was. However, their actions took a great personal toll on both men, but they stood by their convictions and helped to bring down one of the most controversial senators in American history.

-Summary by imdb.com

I wasn’t really interested in watching this movie, for many reasons: 1. the story was about American politics, and 2. it was shot in black and white. Having said that, I have to say I really enjoyed it, and I also learned a lot from it.

The movie jumps right into the mood, space and time that it’s set in with the opening scene, the music, the clothes, everything is just right for that time. Clooney adds an extra touch with the music he’s used, taking us back about 60 years, and making us feel that we are actually living in that time or at least making us wish we did. The fact that the movie is shot in black and white also helps a lot in creating the right mood. This also helps create a few very nice scenes that wouldn’t have been possible if it was in colour, like the smoke that we can see very clearly in most of the scenes coming from Edwards cigars.

On to the actors, David Stratharn does an excellent job as Edward R. Murrow, making the movie feel like a documentary. George Clooney is amazing as always, his character is the most likable, with the best written lines and jokes (For example I especially loved the ‘Natalie send some flowers’ scene). The other characters are also played out very well, although I didn’t quite understand Joe’s character, I didn't really like him or feel like I knew him at all, throughout the movie I didn’t even know if he was a good person or not, he just struck me as being vague.

The movie also manages to fulfil its goal and it shows very clearly how they used to censor things and just how dangerous and important what Edward R. Murrow did for journalism and the news was.

Clooney is a great director, I haven’t seen any of the other movies he directed but I loved mostly everything about this one, especially the close-ups, the way the scenes changed, and all in all the filming.

Having said everything I don’t think this is a movie everyone will love, people will tend to get bored or they might find the plot a bit too confusing to follow, but for people who like to see something different and enjoy a movie that has great directing, I would definitely recommend this movie. 8/10