Dalton Trumbo was a very successful Hollywood
screenwriter in the late 1940’s when he was called to answer questions about
his beliefs by the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). He refused to testify, so was sent to
prison for 11 months for Contempt of Congress. He and many others were put on a Black List by the movie
studios, which refused to hire them, denying them any means of support.
The film Trumbo
dramatizes these events with major actors in the roles of the principal
players. Bryan Cranston plays
Trumbo in another one of his remarkable performances. He truly can melt himself into a character so well you
forget him, the actor. Diane Lane
plays his wife Cleo—capturing the near-saint that Cleo must have been, while
easily asserting herself forcefully when she perceived a wrong. Helen Mirren plays Hedda Hopper, an
apparently conniving, devious zealot with incredible power given her occupation,
a gossip columnist. In her younger
days, she was an actress and still seethes about being rejected as “too old”,
but is still able to threaten studio executives with exposure of their
weaknesses unless they go along with her political stance, i.e., supporting the
HUAC.
Louis C.K. is turning out to be a gifted actor;
he plays Arlen Hird, one of Trumbo’s reluctant screenwriter colleagues also
called to testify. Trumbo pulls
him along by convincing him that even if they’re convicted, the case will go to
a liberal Supreme Court that will defend their right of free speech, and he
pays for Hird’s attorney fees. (In
a stroke of bad luck, one of the Supreme Court liberal judges dies
unexpectedly, so they lose their appeal.)
Another star always up to his reputation is
John Goodman, who plays Frank King, a Hollywood producer who just wants to
churn out box office successes. He
doesn’t give a flip about political issues, so has no problem paying Trumbo to
rework the terrible scripts he is given.
This is what saves Trumbo financially, and as amazing as he is in
turning out scripts in record time, he has so much work he can’t do it
all. He hires his fellow
blacklisted writers to help him, and thereby they survive.
Trumbo is
an extraordinary film in showing us an important “happening” in American
history, in having well known actors playing major figures (which blows your
mind a little bit), and more importantly, reminding us of how critical it is
for Americans to have free speech to sustain our democracy.
Director Jay Roach is known primarily for
comedies (Meet the Parents, Austin Powers),
but I think he does a good job in presenting this bruising history of Hollywood
and America. It is more liberal in
its presentation, but an important speech by Dalton Trumbo gives the import of
the movie’s message: There was bad faith and
good, honesty and dishonesty, courage and cowardice, selflessness and
opportunism, wisdom and stupidity, good and bad on both sides; and almost every
individual involved, no matter where he stood, combined some or all of these
antithetical qualities in his own person, in his own acts (Cieply,
Michael (September 11, 2007). "A Voice
From the Blacklist: Documentary Lets Dalton Trumbo Speak (Through
Surrogates)". New York Times.
Retrieved December 15, 2011.)
An instructive piece of American history dramatized.
Grade: B By Donna
R. Copeland
No comments:
Post a Comment