Network

I knew the speech, knew about Peter finch shouting into the camera, knew the reputation of the screenplay, but none of that could prepare me for how unbelievable this film is. The film fully knows how badly television has already infected the film stock. The newsroom we see from the jump is a regular functioning workspace, constantly moving, full of people actually working, then we watch it turn more and more artificial as Beale becomes an event. Once he’s preaching under those lights his humanity is essentially gone, he’s become a segment. Look how easily the network absorbs him, it’s fucking terrifying. His extremely human breakdown becomes a format, his emotions get branded. Every genuine emotion that walks into that building leaves with a runtime attached to it. Even revolution against the very thing itself has broadcast rights. I knew the screenplay was good but oh my. A script that walks an entire artform into court and makes it testify against itself. The speeches are fucking massive, absurdly so at times, but they have so much rhythm and so much bite that the film earns every word of them. Whether you speak in prophecy or ratings or like a computer worshiping a balance sheet, television will find a way to hollow you out, and with that, the satire gets funnier and funnier the uglier it gets. The cruelest joke of them all comes in our finale, once Howard isn’t useful, his death simply becomes a scheduling issue. Oh boy, the world we live in. I already wanna watch this shit again.