George Clooney, writer and director, and Fred Friendly in this film, takes us back to a world of monochrome TV, excessive smoking, and people trying to stay sane (which is why the film is timely, and why the packed audience applauded at the end). It's a film about courage and integrity. Mom loved it.
A theme here is television might be used more effectively to wake people from their soaps and sitcoms and give them a bigger dose of reality. However, those trafficing in "reality" seem prone to paranoia and keep taking us into nightmarish episodes. Maybe more politicians should be watching Rome or Extras on HBO, instead of inflicting their twisted brand of theater on the rest of us. Maybe we need more quality fiction, not less. We could make it "reality fiction" -- like this film.
A couple years ago I rented the Ed Murrow vs. Joe McCarthy tapes from Movie Madness, having been too young to appreciate these events at the time. Last night I took the new projector over to Larry's house, where he shared Thirteen Days, about the Cuban missile crisis, one of his favorite films (I shared eXistenZ, one of mine). My reaction to these "great game" scenarios (ongoing): why should such a tiny cast get to arrogate so much power to script world events?
If an apocalyptic showdown between "great powers" is what turns you on, just rent the DVD. Either that, or think of some better role playing games, with more interesting and constructive props.
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