Network

Howard Beale has been on television for as long as he and much of his audience can remember. Now due to declining ratings, he has to move over for someone new. But while on his final week he seems to actually lose his mind, calling for everyone to take up the cry 'I am as mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore!' A strange social phenomena takes place and it seems that his message of rage against the machine, might just be what everyone wanted all along.

Peter Finch won a well deserved Oscar for his role as Beale. Driven insane by the empty and cynical world of the news journalist. He died just before it was announced and so became one of the few posthumously awarded. Three other awards were given to this film and once again all rightfully so. Awards often mean little in the longer space of time but here they endorse a film that is clear and clever as first revealed in the mid 1970s. The script is excellent. With subtle conversations and well paced narrative arcs and bold dialogue. Characters are well defined and feel real. Serving themselves and ideals, more than just the script. The film plays the whole world of the media as a roman arena. We are not sure if Finch knows but we do that he is the sacrifice and we are watching his demise in real time.

It would not be possible to make such a powerful film today. The above acting and writing aside, the audience would expect the end result to be different and here the film makers are brave and true. Something sadly missing from a media driven more by commerce than by the hope of art as a reflector of real life. It is sad but I do hope that as the next generation comes to find its ideals, it can be brave and challenge the ignorance and ideology of the current.

The Blu ray is clean and the print feels new. I had the DVD version and it was a little grainy and some of the color had dulled over its life. This has been restored by Arrow in a most lovely way. They at Arrow deserve a real round of applause for not only getting this film out there to a new generation but also for taking the time to care for it. Some of these re issues are so poor but Arrow always hit the spot.



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