It’s official; Dr Doug Ross, long
beloved of housewives, students and
anyone else sad enough to watch ER
ten years ago, is not only a Major Hollywood Player, but now also a Serious
Motion Picture Director. For his second stint behind the camera, George
Clooney has chosen a deeply personal project, the story of 1950’s
US TV anchorman Edward R. Murrow, and his on-air battles with Senator Joseph
McCarthy, leader of the communist witch-hunts which had Middle America
scared of its neighbour. This is personal to Clooney because it draws on
childhood experiences of his TV exec father, and because his underlying
intent of this movie is brazenly announced in its tagline: “They
took on the government armed with nothing but the truth.”
At the time of its release, Clooney was heard to claim that his film was not intended to be overtly political, that its release-date near-pairing with Stephen Gaghan’s Syriana, for which he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, contrived to make him appear more of an activist than he intended. This is clearly bollocks, most likely spouted to upsell the film’s chances of good box-office and awards potential to a notoriously unadventurous Academy and conservative American public. Clooney clearly sees much of George Bush Jnr. in the bullying, ill thought-out mannerisms of McCarthy, and the shamelessly, yet justifiably, one-sided recounting of this story wants you on the side of Murrow in his crusade against political injustice, and by proxy, on the side of right-thinking people everywhere in opposing Dubya’s continued reign of terror.
But… is it any good? Thankfully, yes, it really is. David Strathairn is the undisputed star of the show, shining brightest amongst a truly stellar cast, with not a bad performance to be found. His portrayal of Murrow is unerringly impressive, and any year in which he didn’t have the misfortune to go up against the mighty Philip Seymour Hoffman on Oscar night may well have found himself clutching gold. The ensemble cast is uniformly excellent, assurance and conviction in their roles breathing forth in every minute of the movie; not since Magnolia has such a wealth of talent been so well employed. Even in the brief hour-and-a-half runtime, the characters are so well portrayed that you never question their motives or methods.
Clooney deserves credit for not overextending the film’s welcome; he deserves credit for making such a bold move with his sophomore effort; he deserves credit for shooting in black-and-white, instantly establishing mood and setting without resorting to chiaroscuro trickery or noir pretensions, and he really got it, with nods for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, neither entirely undeserved. The film is beautifully shot, no doubt, but as with his debut, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Clooney’s influences are obvious. Whilst his exec-producer Steven Soderbergh’s fingerprints were all over Mind, here you’ll see virtuoso panning and tracking just a little TOO reminiscent of Scorsese or Altman, character framing a la Fincher and the same perspective shots as his mentor. If learning from the best is worthy of an Oscar nomination, Clooney has it down pat; then again, Ang Lee managed to swipe the gong just for pointing a camera at a hill in between dialogue. The Screenplay nod is ridiculous for a 90-minute film which, while dialogue-heavy, takes much of it from transcriptions and uses recorded footage of McCarthy rather than re-enact his part, which admittedly was a wise decision; any actor trying to pull off that degree of unctuousness would most likely have appeared laughable.
But Clooney’s triumph is in having constructed a film about a newsroom in 50’s America which is never less than utterly gripping, even with the outcome never in doubt. Well-directed, well-delivered, supremely well-cast and always captivating the audience whilst it challenges them to think. George Clooney is here to stay, and if the ol’ charmer makes films of this quality every time he gets behind the camera, legendary status is assured.