Didactic Pseudo-documentary?

Rating: 7/10 (26 May 2015)

I wish that I knew more about the story portrayed in Clooney's Good Night and Good Luck. I initially thought that the real problem here was that the film was just too short and sort of fell off a cliff, as though the budget had been drained and the production crew all packed up and went home, leaving Clooney to wrap up as best as he could.
After reading some of the "hate" reviews here at IMDb, it does appear that investigations have been made into the basis of what is now the conventional wisdom (at least among liberals) according to which McCarthy was a witch hunter whose hysteria ended by harming many innocent people.
Well, kudos to Clooney for at least getting people to think about these matters! The theme is incredibly contemporary, given our current government's obnoxious appeal to "State Secrets Privilege" as an excuse for withholding evidence about what is being done in the taxpayers' name. These days, it seems more like a ploy used by bureaucrats to protect themselves against charges of having wrongly killed and inappropriately spied on citizens, etc.
I'll stick with my original '7' because I do believe that this film is worth watching, regardless of one's political slant. I liked the aesthetic use of black and white, and it was good to learn something about Murrow.
Thanks, George!