Good Night, And Good Luck (DVD, 2006)

Hollywood doesn't make movies like this very often. This kind of movie is insightful, topical, and critical to informing the public of how excatly this time of our recent past reflects on our present political environment. The contagious indeliable malignancy of McCarthyism left his tragic mark on our national psyche. Our present political climate is not at all inviting, neighborly, or understanding but more, devisive, corrupt, and outwardly hostile. George Clooney knew he would be heavily criticized by both those in politics today, older Americans that remember those days, and people who enjoy going to movies for various other reasons. He also knew this is the kind of movie that he knows is important to make, a story that is important to tell, but is not likely to be a monstrous finacial success. His financial support, belief in the script, and attaching his name, reputation, and box office appeal to the project was the main reason studio executives gave the film the greenlight. He tells the story in what seems more like a documentary undercover investigation style You would expect more from either a A&E, History Channel, or Discovery Times retrospective or a current PrimeTime Live, Dateline NBC type expose'. Clooney makes the audience an omnicient fly-on-the-wall who gets to see American history made for all of America to see. Only when Edward R. Murrow challenged McCarthy not unlike a schoolboy hero challenging the bully on the proverbial schoolyard, America only saw the discussion that aired on television when it was still an innovative, emerging, and pioneering medium. The average American didn't see the ferocious, strategic, and calculated behind-the-scenes boardroom and studio decisions that allowed and encouraged a more educated, spirited, and respectful discussion on the issues that stirred our national passions. Murrow the era's unequivocal spokesman for the truth provided the gallant lone voice of dissent in a poisonous spiteful atmosphere in which nobody was spared. Clooney may be asking for someone to speak some inspired words today to dissent for this generation. The McCarthy-like panic has returned and Clooney made Good Night and Good Luck to demonstrate how a concise, brilliant, insightful, trusted, and, charasmatic public speaker can influence Americans to listen to reason rather than spin, trust someone who desrves respect, and can stop the proliferation of mental illness as a social disease. Clooney has his Academy Award, and I hope Good Night and Good Luck inspires more Journalists and Leaders for the better for many generations to come.