We Will Not Walk In Fear, by Tyler Smith

GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK (2005)
Directed by: George Clooney
Written by: George Clooney and Grant Heslov
Starring: David Strathairn, Frank Langella, George Clooney

Today, I bought a copy of Good Night, and Good Luck. It’s a wonderful movie, currently occupying the number 5 spot on my list of favorite films of 2005. Some of you may have seen it. If so, I hope you liked it.

It’s not an easy movie to like, I’ll grant. There are no swells of emotion, telling you the viewer what the feel and when. Instead, the film challenges us to process the vast amounts of information handed to us, and react based on said information. There is no threatening music when Joe McCarthy is on-screen, indicating that he is the villain of the film. Instead, it just shows us what he is saying, shows us the other characters’ subdued reactions to him. If we haven’t been paying attention, we wouldn’t really know what’s going on.

That’s the bravery of the film, from an artistic standpoint: whether a person responds to the film is entirely dependent on that person. Oh, there’s plenty there to contemplate, but you have to work for it. They will not spoonfeed you the lesson; it will hold the bar high and, if you’re willing to meet the film on its terms, rather than demand that it stoop to yours, you will be rewarded with a thought-provoking film experience. That is truly the point of the film; even more than its current political relevance.

But, sure enough, there are some who, because of the film’s political content, are unwilling to consider anything else the film might have to say. As many of you know, there is a website I go to occasionally called christianspotlight.com. On this website, Christians can weigh in on films, old and new. Often- but certainly not always- my fellow Christians will hate great films, based on things like profanity, violence, and all the other things that Christians are supposed to despise.

Don’t get me wrong. Excessive, unnecessary profanity, violence, or sexuality in a film is frustrating for me, too. But, if such is necessary for a film to maintain its authenticity, I have no problem with it. For example, what would Paul Schrader’s Auto Focus, a film about the dangers of sexual addictions, be without any nudity at all?

It is an interesting website, to be sure. Sometimes, people will show real insight into a film. I have always believed that a person of strong faith can sometimes shed more light on a film’s themes than an agnostic with a master’s degree in film, simply because they’re tapped into something that the other is not.

Anyway, a while back, I looked up Good Night, and Good Luck on this website. How much negativity could they possibly feel toward a film like this, with no violence, no sexuality, and very little profanity? As it turns out, quite a bit.

Below is a quote from one of the reviewers:

There were god hating communists in the State Department and the Government. Senator McCarthy was right. George Clooney is a whiny liberal, anti-Bush, anti-christian fool.

Oh, the frustration. It’s always Christians like this that talk the loudest, often drowning out the rest of us, who are trying to do some good in Christ’s name.

What’s particularly infuriating about the above comment is that “Max the Christian Moose,” as he calls himself, is actually saying several different things, but seems to view them all as one.

First off, true Communists do not hate God, because most of them don’t believe in God. As odd as it may seem, there is a difference.

Second, yes, later reports show that there were some Communists in the lower levels of government. To a degree, this does mean McCarthy was right.

However, he made it seem as if there was a vast Communist infiltration of the government. To this degree, McCarthy was wrong. Not to mention that he was also wrong about most of the people that he convicted. Not to mention that, from many moral and legal standpoints, he was completely wrong in his methods.

The Christian Moose goes on to say that Clooney is a whiny liberal, anti-Bush, anti-Christian fool. It is here that the comment strikes a cord with me, as well as countless other Christians I know.

I voted for Bush, and I also happen to be a Christian. I do not view Bush as a perfect person, and I don’t think that he is right all the time. Mostly, it just came down to the fact that I agree with him more than I agreed with the other guy. This doesn’t mean that I agree with everything he says, just a lot of it. Either way, I don’t view my voting for him as a spiritual issue.

I know plenty of good, strong Christians who don’t like Bush, just as I know a few non-religious people who do like him. What bothers me is when Christians get their faith all mixed in with their politics. Of course, I think that faith will get intertwined with everything in my life, as it will with every other Christian out there.

Does that mean that those Christians that voted for Gore or Kerry are not walking with God? Of course not. Just like me, they’re voting for the candidate they agree with more. And, if they’re anything like me, I’m sure that they haven’t yet found a candidate that matches their belief system point for point. So, like everyone, they make compromises, saying, “Well, he’s for this, but he’s against this. I can live with one to get the other.”

I have no problem with people hating Bush. Living in Chicago, I’ve gotten very used to it. But, just because somebody is anti-Bush, or even liberal-minded, that doesn’t mean that they’re anti-Christian. The two don’t necessarily go together.

As you go through life, think about this. I know I have. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve had to say to myself, “Okay, I think that this is morally wrong. Does that mean there should be legislation about it?” Sometimes, the answer I come up with is yes, and sometimes it’s no. Ask yourself that question, have debates with yourself, try to see something from all sides.

Whether you consider yourself liberal or conservative, you might be surprised with what you come up with.