I chose this movie because I really like Bryan Cranston, and I left glad to know more about the McCarthy era. Cranston plays Dalton Trumbo, the top Hollywood screenwriter of the time, who believes in socialist ideology. That’s bad, since during the Cold War, no distinctions were made between believing in socialism and aiding the enemy, Russia, which is not what Trumbo was about. As depicted here, he was about the freedom to believe as he chooses and to verbalize those beliefs. The movie takes you through the pain Trumbo and other socialist ideologues in Hollywood suffered for more than two decades, while the ‘red scare’ had Americans in its grip. We see what they did to survive: some betrayed their friends, others compromised their art to put food on the table.
It’s fascinating to see how Trumbo’s talent triumphed over all, garnering him two Academy Awards for work he was forced to produce under assumed names. Helen Mirren makes a devious and hateful Hedda Hopper, and John Goodman is surprisingly lovable as a tempermental B-film producer who tells the House Un-American Activities Committee to (expletive) itself. Unless you’re a history buff, you will be surprised to discover on which side of the blacklist controversy famous actors of the day fell, including John Wayne, Lucille Ball, Kirk Douglas, Eward G. Robinson and many others.
Should You See It? Yes. It’s fascinating, if a little bit of a slow starter. —D.W.
Viewed at Landmark Theatres Plaza Frontenac
