Stockholm Film Festival

HOLLYWOOD EXAMINES ITS PAST IN a story about the black-listing of actors and directors during the 50's Communist witch-hunt. Robert de Niro plays the successful director David Merrill who has a political past. When he refuses to submit himself to an investigation by the HUAC, he is excluded from themovie industry. _
Comment:
''ARE YOU NOW, OR HAVE you ever been, a Communist?''
During the 50's USA it was not only embarrassing to have to stand up for your leftist sympathies. The suspicion of Communist sympathies was enough to leave you without work, friends, money and reputation. Communism was not a political opinion, but a conspiracy against the ''free'' world. A world that put those in jail who refused to ''admit'' their political belonging or report on their friends.
Just after the war, in 1947, there was a wave of communist paranoia in the USA, stirred up with the rebirth of the Un-American Activities Committe. It was considered that Hollywood in particular was in need of cleaning. Some radical powers had gathered there, many with their roots in Europe, and it was fashionable to make socially engaged problem-movies. According to Robert de Niro himself, in Cannes this year, he portrays a combination of the directors John Huston, Elia Kazan and John Berry in Irwin Winkler's film, Guilty by Suspicion. John Berry inspired Winkler to make the movie, Berry was blacklisted after having been reported by his colleague Edward Dmytryk and emigrated to Europe. Huston did the same. Elia Kazan reported many of his earlier colleagues to the Committee, which some believe he was trying to vindicate by making On the Waterfront in 1954, where as you know, Marlon Brando plays a lost youth who matures and reports on a shady union leader.
Martin Scorcese plays another director, Joe Lessner, who is forced into exile. His part is based on Joseph Losey, who also was forced to hastily leave Hollywood.
HELENA VON ZWEIGBERGK

Medverkande

Robert De Niro, Annette Bening

Producent

Arnon Milchan

Manus

Irin Winkler

Foto

Michael Ballhaus

Musik

James Newton Howard

Talat språk

English

 

Andra filmer från sektionen Midnight Releases

Se alla festivalfilmer från 1991