Lawrence.com

"The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad and given considerable comfort to our enemies, and whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn't create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it, and rather successfully. Cassius was right: The fault dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves."

When was the last time you heard a news anchor speak that eloquently about a modern issue on a network broadcast?

Insight? Not for today's viewers. We like our "reporters" to get right in the middle of the action, stupidly braving hurricanes. We like them rowing boats through flooded streets, spewing self-congratulatory accounts, microphone in hand. The George Clooney-directed "Good Night, and Good Luck" recounts the real-life struggle between CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow and Sen. Joseph McCarthy that took place over the airwaves in the early 1950s. Part nostalgia trip, part cautionary history lesson, all entertainment, it is a briskly paced, insular movie, shot entirely in gorgeous black-and-white.

Murrow is an icon of journalistic integrity. Along with his producer Fred Friendly, he pioneered the TV news program as we know it, making the transition from his famous World War II radio broadcasts to TV with the weekly program "See it Now."

Murrow, as played by David Strathairn, is a pent-up and serious man of conscience. Fed up with the amount of time McCarthy had been given in the media to conduct his "anti-Communist" purges, he finds an opportunity to challenge the Army's firing of an Air Force lieutenant based on anonymous charges that his family read "dangerous literature."

Strathairn exudes tension, bearing the responsibility of his show's divisive subject matter himself. Since the movie barely leaves the studio, the only relationships we see are the ones he has with his crew, who put on fiercely loyal faces, while secretly wondering whether they are on the right side.

The fight with McCarthy takes place entirely in video clips, which, when taken with the fact that almost every scene is shot in the same building, gives the film an immensely claustrophobic feel. In an inspired choice, McCarthy himself is seen only in the actual footage from the period, as if there were no actor who could approach his level of creepiness.

There is a privileged, fly-on-the-wall quality during the broadcasts themselves. As Murrow sits at his desk among a string of monitors, we get to see Friendly directing him just inches away, the reactions of his crew, the clips that are coming up, and finally, Murrow on the screen, as everyone else in America was experiencing it.

What we don't see is precisely that - America actually experiencing the program. Clooney achieves a sense of period and authenticity without the benefit of exterior shots or extras. There are no busy city streets, no suburban homes, no families watching television and eating dinner. The impact of the drama might have been made more explicit by showing the country as it was in 1954, but that may have sacrificed the feeling that you are right there with the characters throughout the crisis.

Like the climate of the times it portrays, "Good Night, and Good Luck" sometimes comes off a little cold and austere. Everybody has their professional face on for so much of the movie that it's a bit of a shock to see the emotional newscaster Don Hollenbock played by Ray Wise (who may be better known as Laura Palmer's dad on "Twin Peaks"). His deflated confidence and sympathetic eyes illustrate the effect this kind of government suspicion had on individuals, during what many called a "witch hunt."

In that way, Hollenbock is a substitute for the idea that this could have happened to anyone in America. Other things contributed to Hollenbock's downfall, but Wise's expressive face lends the character so much sorrow that the devastation of McCarthy's unfounded accusations becomes vivid on a personal level. While perfect set design and camerawork make "Good Night, and Good Luck" a pleasure to look at, it is the barely restrained emotion always threatening to bubble to the surface that holds my interest. Sure, it can be seen as an allegory for the state of current journalistic affairs and truth in government. Regardless, this is an absorbing movie about integrity and the dangers of living in fear.