On the road to the Oscars

I've been to two movies in four days. Sometimes, that's how it happens.

Bryan Cranston in Trumbo

Spotlight

Spotlight: Michael Keaton, Liev Schreiber, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, John Slattery and Brian d'Arcy James

The movies have certain similarities. They both deal with big events of recent history, events that affected many people, caused untold pain and ruined lives. As movies, they did it differently but the stories they told had the same profound effect.

Trumbo tells the story of Dalton Trumbo, an acclaimed Hollywood screenwriter who was one of the Hollywood 10 blacklisted for his Communist affiliations. The House Un-American Activities Committee conducted hearings beginning in the late 1940s and continuing through the '50s into the '60s.

The House Un-American Activities Committee was charged with investigating allegations of communist influence and subversion in the U.S. during the early years of the Cold War. Committee members quickly settled their gaze on the Hollywood film industry, which was seen as a hotbed of communist activity. This reputation originated in the 1930s, when the economic difficulties of the Great Depression increased the appeal of leftist organizations for many struggling actors and studio workers.

There is a much larger story than is told in this movie but this is the story of Dalton Trumbo and its strength is in its narrower focus. Bryan Cranston deserves all his recent acclaim as an actor (I remember him as a guest — Dr. Tim Whatley, the dentist, on Seinfeld in the mid-'90s) and he will, without doubt, be on the list for best actor at the Oscars next year. If you look at the work he's done over the years, you will acknowledge that he's an actor who's paid his dues.

He's surrounded by an excellent cast — most notably Helen Mirren (as Hedda Hopper), John Goodman and Louis C.K. — but it's not really an ensemble in the same way the Spotlight cast is. Bryan Cranston is, I think, the star of this picture.

Spotlight is the story of the Boston Globe's investigation into the abuse of children by priests in the Boston Archdiocese and the subsequent cover-up which went through the ranks, all the way up to the Cardinal. I was just describing it to William — how well done it was, how well-acted, well-conceived, especially well-written — and we agreed that it was remarkable that a movie about a bunch of people just doing their work could be so compelling and hold your interest so completely.

In this case, it is an ensemble cast. It's not possible to pick one of them and say, "This one is the star." Mark Ruffalo had the top billing but I guess someone had to have it. Maybe he has the best agent.

Boston is a very Catholic town and these terrible things that happened were intertwined throughout much of the establishment. So many people behaved so badly and caused so much suffering.

Some people on the viewer discussion boards feel there was not enough emphasis on the victims and their suffering. But that's not what this movie was about just as Trumbo was not about the thousands of lives ruined by the HUAC hearings.

No one movie can do it all but I predict that these two have done enough to be in competition for best film of the year.