Everything is Black and White

Rating: 6/10 (2 October 2005)

It is ironic that this impressive docudrama about newsman Edward R. Murrow's television vendetta against Joseph McCarthy is shot in black and white, as that is precisely the sensibility the film has towards its deified hero and big brother antagonist. Murrow is presented as a plaster saint with no discernible flaws (or personality), while McCarthy is Evil Incarnate.
The film's gimmick of presenting McCarthy and his HUAAC cohorts through actual documentary footage is both its strength and its weakness: by using the actual footage there is a strong sense of authenticity to the proceedings. It also occasionally breaks out into not only an intellectually stimulating, but emotionally engaging movie with scenes like Murrow prostituting himself by conducting a cloying interview with Liberace on "Person to Person" or in Ray Wise's touching, angst-ridden performance as troubled newsman Don Hollenbeck.
But since the villains are only shown through stiff public appearances they lack a sense of attachment to dramatics of the story. And since the Murrow camp is depicted as an earnest and somber think tank whose human interactions are either high school civics class-level conversations about television news ethics or breaking into spontaneous applause over their perceived successes, they rarely engage any response that emanates from anywhere beyond the frontal lobe.
There is a lot to recommend the film: it provides a valuable remedial lesson about the McCarthy era and David Stathairn does a remarkably effective impression of Murrow (within the limits of the screenplay's stiff depiction of the character). But like films that attempt to tell the story of Adolph Hitler, "Good Night, and Good Luck" fails to provide a context for McCarthy's villainy that explains how he rose to power or why he was such a powerful politician for such a brief period of time. But more than anything, the film lacks the human element that transforms the characters from exalted idols from a History of Television Journalism textbook into relatable human beings.
"Good Night, and Good Luck" is an easy film to admire, but a hard one to cherish.