Home cinema

Good films - they're like buses etc. Several passed me by in January, February and March, so a quiet weekend and cheap DVD hire presented the ideal opportunity to play catch-up.

First up was 'Goodnight And Good Luck', George Clooney's critically acclaimed black-and-white directorial debut. For his first venture into directing, Clooney's choice of subject matter was brave: the Communist witchhunt in post-war America and, more specifically, the confrontation between self-appointed Communist scourge Senator Joe McCarthy and CBS newsman Edward J Murrow. After all, "in the film industry alone, over 300 actors, writers and directors were denied work in the U.S. through the informal Hollywood blacklist".

What the film demonstrates (and explicitly states in the address delivered by Murrow which opens and closes the film) is the value of strong and independent news sources led by people who refuse to be bullied or bow to the pressures of censorship - whether from the state, from advertisers or from within the corporation of which they are a part. Murrow is vocal in his conviction that, at a time when TV is taking off dramatically and the schedules are in danger of becoming overrun by trivial frothy entertainment shows, news and current affairs programmes are vital to informing and stimulating the public. Little has changed - Murrow's point bears repeating.

No surprise that Clooney's film, and its robust defence of Murrow (and corresponding attack on McCarthy), has also been seen as a thinly-veiled attack on Bush's America, in which, if you don't agree with presidential policy, you're labelled "unpatriotic" and "an enemy of freedom".

What was particularly interesting, personally, was learning more about the actual events and atmosphere in America at the time, and seeing quite how sharp the political commentary of Arthur Miller's 1952 play 'The Crucible' (ostensibly about the Salem witch trials and the consequent hysteria) was. Miller later said: "The more I read into the Salem panic, the more it touched off corresponding images of common experiences in the fifties".

The situation also brought to mind Franz Kafka's 'The Trial', in the sense that once the finger had been pointed and the wheels of persecution had rolled inexorably into motion, there was no means of escaping your fate. Once pinned down with the Communist label, people struggled to rid themselves of it. Logic and evidence didn't matter.

It might not make for particularly fun viewing, but 'Goodnight And Good Luck' is enjoyable nonetheless, and a very auspicious debut for Clooney. It'll be interesting to see what his next move is.

... And I'm out of time. 'Capote' and 'The Constant Gardener' will have to wait until next week. In the meantime, I'm off here for the weekend - report to follow on my return. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather on my behalf, will you? Cheers.