Directed by: George Clooney
Staring: David Strathairn, Frank Langella, George Clooney, Patricia Clarkson, Robert Downey Jr.
A taut, superbly performed drama featuring 1950’s crusading broadcast journalist Ed Murrow (Strathairn) who presents a weekly news show. The portrayal of his and his team’s daring investigation of Senator McCarthy’s witch-hunt for communists offers allusions to America’s current war on terror.
The paranoia of the time- fear of exposure, of losing one’s job, is acutely captured by Clooney, atmospherically filmed in black and white and steeped in cigarette smoke and jazz. The comradeship between Murrow and his colleagues (played by Clooney, Downey Jr. and others) in the campaigning newsroom is offset by the isolation and sense of danger they feel. Everyone has to decide whether to stay and fight for their beliefs or to go. Archive footage augments this powerful, moody film.