c olor, USA 1994, Robert Redford
Duration: min. 133
Genre: historical drama
Cast: Ralph Fiennes (Charles Van Doren), Rob Morrow (Dick Goodwin), John Turturro (Herbie Stempel ), Paul Scofield (Mark Van Doren), David Paymer (Dan Enright) Hank Azaria (Albert Freedman), Mira Sorvino (Sandra Goodwin), Christope her McDonald (Jack Barry)
Screenplay: Paul Attanasio, based on the book by Richard N. Goodwin
Twenty One quiz show is a success for NBC , in America in the Fifties. Herbert Stempel, a clumsy "common man" in Queens, from IQ and an amazing memory, is the defending champion. It is to be dethroned Charles Van Doren , after a heated response to the last challenge. Stempel seems to fail too simple a question, and this raises suspicion. The quiz is in fact rigged by its curators, forcing one to fail Stempel request to allow the handover to the most charismatic Van Doren. Son of Mark Van Doren , a member of a family of intellectuals, renowned professors and academics, is a professor at Columbia University has an extraordinary background of the culture, and a remarkable stage presence.
The sponsor of the transmission, Geritol, is urging Van Doren just replace the exciting Stempel, to boost viewing figures in decline, and Dan Enright, producer for NBC's Twenty One, the accont enta.
Van Doren becomes too important to the economy of the network and the sponsor that, despite his intellectual capacity, be provided with all the answers to quiz in antemprima.
While Van Doren becomes a public figure in the eyes of more than fifty million viewers, earning the cover of the Times, Dick Goodwin , investigator on behalf of the Congress is interested in the cause Stempel brought before a grand jury, which denounces the serious irregularities and counterfeiting of the show Twenty One.
So begins an investigation that will lead to a national scandal.
dramatic Decade for America, that of the Fifties, the bearer of scandals of major events that had worldwide impact, then radical changes that involved all over the world and our entire culture. In a suspended time between the end of McCarthyism beginning of the revolutions of the sixties, the Am erica addresses the scandal of fake TV, made-up, another illusion that is a cad ages, the last in a series of awakenings for the American people that will lead to an era where val gold, perhaps never existed, is lost slowly.
Van Doren is the prototype of the perfect American intellectual: his passion for wide-ranging subjects, his great culture, its being the scion of a family setting rtante and great cultural heritage and his presence of mind, make him a superstar, which is almost impossible to miss the target. The man is easy to replace the low-class, which is common and anonymous Stempel, d the Jewish origins and potentially unpopular with the general public and forced to make a caricature of himself by the representation concept of network.
Van Doren's fall is the loss of American innocence, once again, and the realization that now the new media, television in the first place, have a power of influence and manipulation of reality to it is difficult to counter.
investigation for the scandal of Twenty One, most of those involved comes out clean, undamaged, unconsciously. The enstabilishment NBC is hardly scratched from each other, but as often happens when "exposed" to the expense, the heroes who put their own face and the person in the window to move economy potente e riempire le casse degli sponsor e de i network. Van Doren vedrà la sua carriera di professore distrutta, il buon nome della famiglia macchiato.
È sul rapporto tra Van Doren e Goodwin che il film si concentra in molte parti, mostrando l’uomo dietro lo scandalo , il suo errore fatale, la sua a volte capibile u manità. Ralph Fiennes tratteggia un person aggio notevole, incastrato tra il mondo accademico, fatto di tangibile sostanzialità, e quello vac uo ed effimero della televisione, del mainstream, della cultura a buon mercato e volatile. Il contatto con la ma ssa at first meets him, but it seems to soon realize that it brings empty, the lack of real connection between him and his admirers viewers - and it is impossible here to do the comparison between the Van Doren superstar / viewers and Van Doren professor and his students , including the few scenes where this connection is visible, including those with Mark Van Doren's father. Character, that of Mark, beautifully sketched by Paul Scofield, who will receive a nomination for Academy A ward for this, more than justified. He is the academic side of the personality of Van Doren, that world from which he is wanted for second popularity, perhaps because of complacency, perhaps really to promote the cause of its class, the intellectuals who reach great goals through their knowledge. But, as Charles himself said in his statement of confession before the commission of inquiry, failed to even reach this goal, probably causing the opposite effect: "[...] by Appearing on a nationally televised program I would be doing a great service to the intellectual life, to teachers and to education in general, by Increasing public Respect for the work of the mind thr ough my performances. In fact, I think I have done a disservice to all Of Them. I Deeply regret this, since I believe nothing is more of Vital Importance To Our civilization Than education ".
are always those of Mark and Charles of the best lines of el film, their way of facing reality through their cultural baggage , managing to perfectly frame. Just close to the exchange between father and son quotes Shakespeare Van Doren to define the true nature of what is happening, television, than the sense of right and wrong may be diluted under the powerful spotlight.
History, in Post-scandal, was soon forgotten and burned the stars visible and less visible, they resume their activities, some before, some later. Robert Redford decided to resurrect this story because, in spite of today no specific laws prohibiting the falsification of competitions and TV shows more or less all over the world, television is still the gold of fools. Even knowing that does not correspond to reality, many people are convinced that what they see is genuine, and often have the illusion that it is - a suspension of credulity c he actually corresponds to the literary, as it produces light-heartedness, but unfortunately, based on much nobility and generating less scarce opportunities for cultural growth.
is also a wonderful opportunity to reflect, as often happens in the history of our civilization, nothing is really new, especially when the mass illusion. Someone has already tried, somebody is already successful, but the historical memory of the public is always conditioned by decades, new editions and , episodes and seasons. Our own sense of temporal sequence is altered: it is as if everything started from scratch every time, in the beautiful, muted, unreal world of television.
Equipment:
© Copyright 1994 - Hollywood Pictures Company - All rights reserved.
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