Good Night, and Good Luck

Date: 06 December 2005 11:28:00

With thanks to my local ABC, of which I'm a member of the Listeners' E-mail List and hence was able to get a free double-pass, I went off to see Good Night, and Good Luck tonight with a friend who is back in Oz for a short-break before returning to London to continue her working holiday.

Wow. A fantastic film. The movie depicts the real-life conflict between CBS news presenter Edward R. Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy. "McCarthy-ism" has passed into the language here, but I was rather ignorant as to what went on and what he did. The movie, directed by George Clooney, helped a great deal to further my understanding: and to see how easily facts can be manipulated or misrepresented, especially by those in authority and those involved in giving us information -- the media.

As Virginia Trioli, ABC Sydney's morning presenter and the person who introduced the film to us, said, it has clear parallels to now, and that is no doubt why Clooney was so interested in pursuing it. At at time where a lot of media here, and media overseas as well -- if documentaries I have watched can be believed, and I see no reason why they cannot -- are not reporting full facts on issues such as the goings on Iraq to the goings on in our society, but rather seeking to push an agenda, the movie's call to civic responsibility in broadcasting is a welcome and timely reminder.

Wonderful acting from all concerned. The 1950s was recreated well and I think the use of black-and-white helped: though I hardly noticed a few minutes in. The use of footage from the era, for example no-one plays Senator McCarthy: it is film from the time that is used so we get the real McCarthy on screen, is a masterstroke.

Some wonderful quotes from Murrow from the movie, among many:

"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty."

"We are currently wealthy, fat, comfortable, and complacent. We have currently a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information. Our mass media reflect this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse, and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it, and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture too late."

Timely indeed.

And the movie introduced me to the wonderful talents of Dianne Reeves: I'll definitely be writing to Santa to ask for her CD in my stocking. An absolutely beautiful and mesmerising voice.