Trumbo takes us back to a time when Americans sought to preserve freedom by denying some people their freedom. The late 1940s and early 1950s were a time of Cold War hysteria often likened to witch hunts. The House Committee on Un-American Activity (HUAC) held hearings on the Communist infiltration of the motion picture industry. Dalton Trumbo was one of what became known as the Hollywood Ten for refusing to answer questions. They claimed the protection of the First Amendment which guarantees the freedoms of speech and of assembly. The HUAC cited them for contempt. In time they served a year in prison for their stand.
I first knowingly encountered Dalton Trumbo in his pacifistic novel Johnny Got His Gun back when I was in high school or college. I’d seen his film work before, but didn’t know the name—and in some cases the film didn’t carry his name. Among his film screenplays are Roman Holiday (winner of an Oscar for Best Writing) and The Brave One (which also won a Best Writing Oscar). Neither Oscar went to Trumbo, because he wrote them using fronts—other people who allowed him to use their names. He was blacklisted—not allowed to work in Hollywood. (Since that time, both of these Oscars have been awarded to Trumbo and his family, and official credits changed.) He went on to write the screenplays (with credit thanks to the courage of Kirk Douglas and Otto Preminger) for Spartacus, Exodus, The Sandpiper, Hawaii, and The Fixer.
Trumbo is part history lesson of those times and part celebration of a man who stood by his principles even though it cost him greatly. It should be noted that the film is based on a play written by his son Christopher, so we shouldn’t expect it to be a critical study. Much of the film is hearing Trumbo’s words being read by various actors. The letters they read show us a man who was articulate, especially in his ability to convey his sense of anger and outrage. In one letter he writes with acidic wit to his daughter’s school principal over the persecutions his daughter suffers because she is his child and other parents don’t want her in the school. Indeed, as good a screenwriter and novelist as he was, the letters could well be the best examples of his writing skill.
Trumbo was in fact a member of the Communist Party. Membership in the party was not illegal. As he put it, people joined the Communist Party in the Depression years because it was doing something. When called before the HUAC, he (and others) maintained that it was his right under the Constitution to associate with those who shared his ideals (as is the case in any political party) and to be free not to discuss his politics. For maintaining such rights he was sent to jail by the government and denied an opportunity to work by the studios. If such dissenters had not stood by their principles—if they had recanted and informed on others—they could have kept working.
In Spartacus, there is a scene in which all the slaves will be given amnesty if they just point out Spartacus for punishment. As Spartacus stands to give himself up, another stands and says “I’m Spartacus!” Then another stands and another and another. That scene is seen in a new light if we consider what Trumbo has been through.
There have always been disputes over the propriety of the investigations of Communist influence during that period. It was a time when atomic war seemed possible. It was also a time when some found in the supposed Communist threat an easy way to stir up fears in the populace.
Trumbo reminds us of those former days when security seemed so important that all else was expendable. We felt justified in throwing a few writers and directors in jail. Their rights were in the way of our security.
Is it appropriate to see the same issues in our own setting? The post-9/11 era has significant similarity to those early Cold War years. Can a nation save its freedom by taking away the freedom of its citizens? Are the powers the government claims for itself to investigate phone records or library records the price we must pay for security, or are they an intrusion of the very liberties we cherish?
