Exoticalot
People are voting emotionally.
Huievest
Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.
PiraBit
if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.
mraculeated
The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.
runamokprods
The film does a terrific job of examining Dalton Trumbo's unyielding beliefs, his cantankerous personality, and most importantly his words. His letters are read by terrific actors like David Straithairn and Donald Sutherland, and it's in these readings that we get an insight into how sad and deep America's fear of intellectuals and artists really is. The film has flaws, including rushing through some of the most important turns in Trumbo's professional life (e.g., his return to finally being able to take credit for his work in 1960) and there's a slight lack of emotional punch to the whole thing. But this is intelligent filmmaking, and Trumbo's words will ring in my head for a long time.
Socratease
Trumbo is undoubtedly a hero for his dogged determination to stand by his principles, to hold in contempt a truly contemptible congressional committee and to suffer the dire consequences and outcast status, along with his family, essentially for the rest of his life.The McCarthyist period rightfully remains one of the most shameful in the history of the so-called "Land of the Free".It was great to see the interviews with Trumbo himself and with those that knew him, however I found the numerous readings of his often interminably long letters a drag. One or two would have been sufficient to get the tenor of his correspondence style.This film does not justify the 96 minutes feature format. It is really a documentary and the usual 50 minutes would have done it nicely.
Nooshin Navidi
For those of us too young to remember first-hand the evils of that horrid period in American history known as McCarthyism and the rampant loss of freedom & justice during its barbaric witch-hunts, this is a profoundly important film to watch.At a time when terms like "patriot" are increasingly misused, abused and bastardized, the story of writer, Dalton Trumbo, and others like him who suffered grave injustices in the hands of their own fellow countrymen, needs to be heard far & wide and esp. by the young in this country.I wished they would add this film & others like it to every high-school history-class curriculum, as they are just as relevant today. An immensely moving and heartbreaking story & an absolute must-see (be sure to read the closing credits.) ~NN
larean57
I thought I knew Trumbo. You know, saw his movie and many movies which he wrote. I also knew he was one of the Hollywood 10. So superficially, yes, here is a guy I like, one of the good guys.But I did not know he was SUCH a good guy. Here is a man who fought for his principles, who went through terrible duress... and was never broken. Here is a man who sees how his little daughter is ostracized and mentally tortured for being the daughter of a Commie, and writes a beautiful and indignant letter to the principal of her school in response. Here is a man who playfully writes to his teenage son telling him it's OK to masturbate. Here is a man who writes to his friends, telling them of his troubles, thanking them for their support, and who says he was of course in contempt of the Committee: he felt nothing but contempt for them.And although I was moved all along, I had to break into tears when he mentioned the fall of Barcelona in the Spanish Civil War and how he would have liked to have been here, and maybe if "we" had been here, Barcelona would not have fallen and a better world would have been possible... or else fall with the city and be buried in its ruins, as nothing else mattered.Here is an unsung hero. We need many, many more men like him.
