Movie Review: Network

9/10

A searing indictment of TV culture from Sidney Lumet today. It is the last Movie to have had Oscar noms in all four acting categories and as of this moment (though I very much doubt this will be the case in two weeks time) features the only actor to have recieved a posthumous oscar, in the form of devastatingly superb Peter Finch, who plays the central role of Howard Beale.

Howard is a news anchor - he used to be a big name and a huge success but recently his ratings have been slipping and the network chiefs decide to fire him, giving two weeks notice. Problem is, Howard starts to slip into a breakdown from which he will never recover, initially threatening to commit suicide live on air and later ranting and swearing during a broadcast.

All very sad, but not the point. THe point is, Howard's schizophrenic outbursts and crazed behaviour start to pull in audiences and suddenly he is a hit again - exploited by both his division (represented by an excellent Faye Dunaway) and the company that owns it (represented by an extremely believable Robert Duvall).

As a satire it is almost comically appropriate to our times, as instead of treating the problems Howard is having, the world encourages them for its own entertainment. This is set against a parallel plot in which Faye Dunaway's upwardly mobile, deeply damaged programme director decides to start a show using the aid of a terrorist organisation to pull in even more viewers.

The moral centre of the piece is Howard's long time friend Max (played with measured calm by William Holden) who despite complications remains honest and open throughout.

The ending of the piece is never really in doubt once things go beyond a certain point, but the satire is that despite the inherent selfishness and madness of the ideas put forward, noone sees them as such - ratings are king and everything else comes second. That they create a monster that isn't entirely under their control is not anticipated until it's almost too late to do anything about it.

I can hardly recommend this movie enough - it is cutting while still being darkly humorous, affecting while being enraging and masterfully acted while containing no likable characters.

In parts it feels a little stagy due to a lot of talking heads and monologues, but this is not a bad thing, merely a function of the script. It does mean, though, that a stage production would be possible, which I'll chuck out as a challenge to any budding adapters out there. It would be an actor's dream since even incidental characters have flesh and bones - and there's at least one show stopping monologue from every major character to get your teeth into.

An immensely enjoyable experience.

A