The fiasco currently underway aimed at electing our next president is enough to make any American blush. The debates, the silly candidates, the lack of substance: it's downright embarrassing. Another particularly blush-inducing era is the subject of Trumbo, which tells the shameful story of the witch hunt that overtook Hollywood in the 1950s when many members of the Communist Party were blacklisted by the movie industry. Dalton Trumbo, the leading screenwriter of the day, was one of those. This film recounts the slow but steady destruction of his life and the lives of his friends and colleagues, all for what turned out to be pretty much no reason. They committed no crime other than having thoughts that ran counter to "the American ideal." Sound familiar?
Bryan Cranston plays the title character, and he does so with gusto, causing a lump in the throat and a well of tears ready to spill over, at least among people given to that sort of thing, like me. We feel his pain as he faces the Feds at one of those congressional hearings, interspersed with authentic footage from the time. Sentenced to eleven months in a federal penitentiary for his independent thinking, he leaves behind his loving wife, played blandly by Diane Lane, and his three young children to fend for themselves.
Other big names lending their talents are Louis CK as a fellow writer targeted by The House Committee on Un-American Activities (a.k.a. Big Brother), riotous John Goodman as a B-movie producer who hires Trumbo after he leaves prison, and Helen Mirren as the heinous bitch-on-wheels gossip columnist leading the witch hunt on the home front. (It is a testament to her talent that I hated her so much, as she is my favorite actress and usually inspires love and admiration. In her role here as Hedda Hopper I wanted to see her mauled by a pack of pit bulls, at the very least.)
Big names aside, the real star of the movie is Fear. Back then it was the Red Scare, today it's The Muslims. Trumbo is a timely reminder of how Groupthink destroys individual lives and entire societies. Despite some dull stretches in a seriously drab script, the film is an intense and worthy effort, valuable above all else as an instruction manual on how a free society must not behave.
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| Helen Mirren spewing hatred at Bryan Cranston. |
Other big names lending their talents are Louis CK as a fellow writer targeted by The House Committee on Un-American Activities (a.k.a. Big Brother), riotous John Goodman as a B-movie producer who hires Trumbo after he leaves prison, and Helen Mirren as the heinous bitch-on-wheels gossip columnist leading the witch hunt on the home front. (It is a testament to her talent that I hated her so much, as she is my favorite actress and usually inspires love and admiration. In her role here as Hedda Hopper I wanted to see her mauled by a pack of pit bulls, at the very least.)
Big names aside, the real star of the movie is Fear. Back then it was the Red Scare, today it's The Muslims. Trumbo is a timely reminder of how Groupthink destroys individual lives and entire societies. Despite some dull stretches in a seriously drab script, the film is an intense and worthy effort, valuable above all else as an instruction manual on how a free society must not behave.
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