Trumbo (2015)

Towards the end of the film, Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston in an Academy Award-nominated performance) makes a profound statement during his acceptance speech for the Laurel Award for Screen Writing Achievement during a Writer's Guild of America ceremony (1970). He says (paraphrase) "It will do no good to search for villains or heroes or saints or devils because there were none; there were only victims (during the communist blacklist years of the 1940's and 1950's)." This part of his speech sums up well the point of this film which chronicles one of the few survivors of the communist blacklist scare during the two decades after the Second World War. Not only teachers, doctors, academics, factory workers, social workers and many others were targeted resulting in the devastation of careers and lives, but also people working in the entertainment industry in Hollywood, CA. Few congressional committees in Post-World War Two United States were more un-American than the House Un-American Activities Committee and the Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security. The latter saw the rise of Sen. Joseph McCarthy's witch-hunts in which he accused people both within the US government and without but among the US citizenry as being communists in collusion with the then Soviet Union (USSR). As a result of these witch-hunts, friends turned on friends, usually fearing the wrath of the committee. If you didn't cooperate, the "scarlet letter" of communist or communist sympathizer was forever plastered onto you like a badge of shame. In addition, you might spend time in prison for being in contempt of congress. In the case of Dalton Trumbo, he experienced both indignities. Dalton Trumbo was one of the most brilliant screenwriters of his era. He wrote such classics as "A Guy Name Joe", "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo", "Roman Holiday", and even the b-film noire "Gun Crazy". He also wrote the screenplays to two great Hollywood epics: "Spartacus" and "Exodus". Despite his credentials, he was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee to testify about whether he was or had been a member of the Communist Party. Many of his Hollywood friends were also subpoenaed, some were sympathetic to the cause of rooting out "communists" while others who were appalled at the committees' actions but terrified of being blacklisted reluctantly cooperated. Prominent members of the entertainment community including Edward G. Robinson, John Wayne, and Ronald Reagan were brought before the committee. Trumbo was no exception. Will he cooperate or risk losing his career?A brilliant film with a tour-de-force performance by Cranston as Trumbo. Trumbo is not always the easiest of characters to like. He sometimes sacrifices the needs of his family to maintain his career. Cranston finds the difficult balance of finding the humanity of Trumbo while also exposing his many shortcomings, including writing in the bathtub! Trumbo was a brilliant writer who didn't deserve his treatment at the hands of the US government. At the same time, his family didn't deserve what they suffered either. As stated earlier, there were no victors but only victims.

One of the best movies that I had the chance to see lately. It's about a man, a writer, a very successful one that had his life destroyed by stupid people with stupid and limited political ideas. But he manages to defy them and against all odds he is rehabilitated, working hard and finding the best ways to fight those who were trying to impose a ban on his work, on the grounds that he was a supporter of communism.

a great movie, one which thankfully was allowed to stand on the merits of the story without being sexed up. the excitement comes from the sublime acting and razor sharp script. but above all for 2 hours we we are allowed to rub shoulders with, and learn from a courageous, talented and immensely intelligent humanitarian. bravo. i hope this work will be seen and absorbed by those of us who are prone to allowing hate and warped assumptions cloud their judgement and bury reason.

"Trumbo" was rightfully nominated for some of the bigger film prizes. It tells the story of Trumbo, a writer for movie scripts, that is persuaded by the government and ends on a blacklist of Communists that aren't in the position to work as ordinary anymore.While I really enjoyed most of the movie and it kept me interested throughout the whole playtime, there are mainly two things that prevent this film from being even more powerful in my eyes. Firstly, even though the humor carries bigger parts of the movie and I like the fact that Trumbo is quick-witted, it would have been nice to see a broader variety of emotions. There must have been some situations throughout that time that really left him desperate or sad and you don't really see that in the movie.Secondly, it would have been nice to also see what this policy meant for more common people. A screenplay writer is in a quite distinguished position and I could imagine that someone working in a more "exchangeable" job could suffer even more from the tensions. Of course that's not the fault of the movie, since it only tells the story of Trumbo but it is a false image to think that all you have to be is a good worker to be granted justice.All in all it is a very good, but not an excellent movie. Good movie for a more serious film night.