The Terror is in this Room

Rating: 8/10 (10 November 2005)

Greetings again from the darkness. What a thrill it must be for George Clooney to see his pet project come to life in such a meaningful and impressive manner. Many have seen the interview where Clooney beams when re-telling the story of his dad's review of the film, "You got it right".
The film opens with an Edward Murrow speech given the week before I was born. His words are just as powerful now as they were then. TV can, and does, manipulate the viewer. Of all the changes of the past 40 years, few mention the dramatic changes in TV news. Today's broadcasts are dominated by two things: the impressive looking anchor who reads the teleprompter and the investigative reporter who tries to blow the lid off some new scandal (we have Watergate to thank for this). As Murrow says numerous times during the film, dialog on the issues is key. Sadly, this is a lost art.
From that opening speech, David Strathairn is Edward Murrow. He so fully captures the drive, integrity and quest for truth. Just as powerful is his near-disgust at having to provide the "person-to-person" pieces that CBS demands as balance for the hard pieces he lives for. As terrific as Strathairn's performance is, I would not label this as a bio film. It is much more an expose on a period of our history that was downright frightening and how lucky we are that someone was courageous enough to stand up and point out the injustice of the accusations from Sen. Joseph McCarthy and his committee. McCarthy's actions so went against the foundation of our country that normal, everyday people were intimidated to the point of being paranoid and afraid to discuss the topic of communism. How amazing that this was only 50 years ago.
Writer/Director/Actor Clooney assembled a very strong supporting cast including Robert Downey, jr., Patricia Clarkson, Ray Wise, Jeff Daniels, Frank Langella as William Paley, and Grant Heslov as Don Hewitt (future backbone of "60 Minutes"). Clooney made two decisions that really add to the authenticity of the film. First, he filmed in Black and White. Second, he used actual clips of McCarthy. Nothing is scarier than reality.
This film would make for great classroom discussion in High School civics or government classes and could be a great tool for future and current journalists. Kudos to Clooney for bringing this uncomfortable time in history back to the forefront to ensure history does not repeat itself.