George Clooney hit it just right -- wonderful!

Rating: 9/10 (8 November 2005)

This movie is absolutely magnificent. The choice of black-and-white was smart, as it ensures the action melds perfectly with the frequently-shown footage of the hearings and interviews from the period. In fact, one scene, showing Roy Cohn tarring a witness after McCarthy has left the room, is so magnificent, with panning between witness and Cohn (and the senator who attacks Cohn). It increased the drama of the scene, while heightening the drama of the film as a whole.
The directing is also spare, with no soundtrack -- aside from brief, and lovely musical interludes -- and the reliance on studio sets rather than location shots was also a good choice. Clooney also struck the perfect balance between showing closeups of actor's reactions, without dwelling on them. And indeed those reactions are often not explained -- you just know there's ugliness going on.
The acting was also first-rate. Very understated, with lots of low talking, and characters with doubts -- as any human being would be in their place -- without any of the usual Hollywood cardboard cutouts. Clooney was strong, and nicely understated; in fact there wasn't a lot of scene-stealing, though Patricia Clarkson is, as always, luminous.
No review would be complete without fulsome praise of David Strathairn. He captured Edward R. Murrow magnificently. The magnificent delivery of beautifully-written words, with the quiet, observing -- almost watchful -- behavior off-camera (the guy wasn't the life of the party, it seems) came together fantastically.
If there was a shortcoming, it was the lack of a what-happened-afterward finish. However that's a very minor quibble, and it's hard to complain about it, because the choice to not include that makes the movie very much of a self-contained unit -- like a great TV documentary (and hey, maybe people will want to go do some research).
All in all, a great movie. Well done, Mr. Clooney!