Trumbo, written by John McNamara, based on the book by Bruce Cook, 8 out of 10

Trumbo, written by John McNamara, based on the book by Bruce Cook

8 out of 10

Notes and thoughts on other books are available at:

-              https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVa4_CsRStSBBDo4uJWT8BSWtTTn0N1E and   http://realini.blogspot.ro/

Trumbo is a very entertaining film.

Considering that the hero was a communist, many people would reject it.

Having lived under a communist regime, I also have qualms about the protagonist and his wrong sympathies.

They used to say, and this is apparently an anecdote, not one of the multitudes of jokes we exchanged to make hell more livable:

-          Who is not communist when young, had no heart

-          But who is still a communist when old, has no brains

The catastrophic argument was that socialism, communism are such splendid concepts, the only problem being implementation.

The concept, the philosophy in itself is disastrous and this proved by the fact that the system failed Everywhere.

After this initial background check on the hero of the narrative, I will admit that he is likeable in the film.

And not just in fictional, embellished form, for I had the chance to hear the real Dalton Trumbo talk in some documentaries.

This being a complex, intriguing protagonist, the film only gains by not telling the story of a positive only and therefore more boring character.

The story is based on real events and celebrities take stands on the two opposite sides of the conflict.

John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, Hedda Hopper and others lead the “crusade” against the communist threat.

As stated here, in my view, the Soviet peril could not be exaggerated- notice the interference of today’s Russia in the American elections, the Ukraine, Georgia…to mention just a few cases-notwithstanding the silliness of the three aforementioned characters.

Dalton Trumbo has embraced communist ideals and if you ask me, he should have paid for that, given their murderous nature:

-          Stalin, Mao and communist regimes in general have proved that they are more dangerous than the Nazis: they have killed more of their own people than Hitler did!!

Nevertheless, Dalton Trumbo is right when he mentions the American Constitution and his freedom of speech rights.

The writer was a smart – except for his embrace of mass murderers and their doctrine- humorous, creative man.

One could almost cast him as a “role model” except for the flaw that I keep emphasizing, for those “generous concepts” have affected my life and my family, as we had to wait in interminable lines for anything- bread included.

It is hard to have compassion for the man who went to jail and had to work hard in order to support his family…

-          For long intervals, he worked in a bath, with hot water and lights over his head…

-          Well, under communism, these were luxuries, for hot water and water itself were restricted, the electricity was on only during some periods…

Dalton Trumbo should have tried to experiment with these ideas by coming to live here for some time.

Apart from the negative personages, we have Kirk Douglas and Otto Preminger that help rehabilitate the hero.

Otto Preminger is offering Trumbo work, on the script of Exodus, even if this film was not a success, in spite of the fact that the original material is great.

Kirk Douglas has a movie of a much larger scale- the famous Spartacus- that was directed by a cinema God- Stanley Kubrick.

Dalton Trumbo has won two Academy Awards for his work, albeit as a blacklisted writer, he could not get the prizes himself.

However, he could use that recognition to make a tremendous point, when he revealed he was the awarded author.

It is with mixed feelings that I take this film, on the one hand the work is very good, but on the other I hate communists, regardless of their other attributes.