Review: Trumbo (2015)
Directed by Jay Roach; screenplay by John McNamara, based on ‘Dalton Trumbo’ by Bruce Cook; starring Bryan Cranston, Elle Fanning and Diane Lane.
So when you look back on that dark time, as I think you should now and then, it will do no good to search for heroes or villains. There were none. There were only victims.
Trumbo is a film I remember seeing plenty about upon release and never really feeling compelled to see. After finishing it I admittedly feel a similar apathy, but now at the very least having learned something about an era I knew little about.
The film follows Dalton Trumbo from right after he finishes the Oscar-winning script for Roman Holiday through to his reception of an award from the Writers Guild of America, from where the quote above is taken.
As the quote above suggests, the film documents a dark period in American history during which the blacklist for writers and creatives was implemented, targeting individuals with communist sympathies, those deemed dangerous and traitorous, rendering many to be unhirable and even landing some with prison sentences.
The film navigates a few interesting topics with a rather heavy tread and creates a compelling through-line with Trumbo's familial drama, but is entirely front-loaded by Trumbo's legal battle.
After this event in Trumbo's life, we're treated to writing montage after writing montage, and the film never quite holds your attention in the same way.
Watched on 12 April 2021