Trumbo

Dir: Jay Roach

2015

*****

Trumbo takes a somewhat simplistic approach to telling a complicated story, it has received criticism for doing so but personally I think it was the right move to tell the story in a correct manner. The film is about the blacklisting of those working in Hollywood who were believed to be members of the communist party which came about during the second 'red scare' that started in the 1940s and continued through to the 1960s. However, the film centres around Dalton Trumbo, a famous Hollywood writer and an unelected spokesperson for those on the blacklist. Trumbo was an open supporter of communism and was one of Hollywood's most prolific writers but when the House Committee on Un-American Activities drew their attentions to the film studios, Trumbo and many others like him were thrown out of the business and many of them into jail. The film pretty much sticks to the facts through the lives of the Trumbo family. Certain pieces of history are of course missing but there is only so much you can fit into a feature length film that covers approximately four decades. It sticks to the point, is sometimes a little obvious but then biographies often have to be. Some of the characters, such as Helen Mirren's Hedda Hopper, are a little cartoon-like but that said, I'm not sure it paints her other than how she really was. David James Elliott plays quite a convincing John Wayne, the script cleverly sends the actor up somewhat but everything he says in the film he said in real life, he's seen as an American hero but the truth is he was somewhat of a fraud (beautifully pointed out when mentioned that the 'communists' all proudly fought in the second world war when Wayne didn't). There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a conscientious objector unless of course you act like a war hero when you cleverly are not. This is what the film is really about. The injustice and hypocrisy of governments, media and how easily led society can be. This sort of thing will always be relevant. Indeed, I've seen negative reviews for this film based on its politics and misunderstanding. People have suggested that it defends international communism. Those who have taken over the late Roger Ebert's column state that “it invites us to see the Communist Party USA as just another political party rather than as the domestic instrument of a hostile and ultra-murderous foreign tyranny". They're not the first people to mistake communism for a totalitarianism dictatorship and maybe they don't realise that the House Committee on Un-American Activities supported the Ku Klux Klan, because, as John E. Rankin put it; "After all, the KKK is an old American institution." Truth is, the CPUSA apposed fascism and turned on Hitler and Nazis way before the American government did. They campaigned for equal rights for Black workers and solders during the war, were at the forefront of the civil rights movement and were working for gay rights way before it was in the media. I digress. There is this weird belief it seems that in order to protect freedom you also have to squash it. Anyway, I don't want to get political, the fact is that these people were victimized and punished and had the constitution used against them when the constitution should have protected them, especially as they had done no wrong. Fear, paranoia, ignorance and manipulation, still going strong all these years later. Trumbo lived through it on the wrong side of the government but fought back the best way he could by doing everything he was told he couldn't. Like I said, an important issue but the use of comedy and somewhat simplistic techniques doesn't trivialize the story. It's safe to say that Bryan Cranston's performance is where the real strength of the film lies. He is utterly memorizing in the lead role, is always believable and he carries the film effortlessly. I have to admit, I'm also impressed by Jay Roach's direction. He's far from being the director I would have thought was best for the job but he has made a brilliant film. The supporting cast are all fantastic, the reconstructions of some of the old Hollywood classics are very cleverly made and the script is outstanding. It's not just a political film though, it is a Hollywood film and it has the right mood to match. It has everything you'd want from a movie, a hero, a villain, romance, comedy, drama, it's so clever but it seems to have gone over the heads of many who can only see it as something bad, trained as they are to reject anything that contains certain keywords. Loved and hated in equal measure, a sure-fire future classic for sure.