George Clooney, Robert Downey Jr and David Strathairn in Good Night, and Good Luck. Photograph: Melinda Sue Gordon/AP
George Clooney's Bafta-nominated Good Night, and Good Luck tells the story of newsman Edward R Murrow, who takes a stand against the McCarthy campaign. It missed out on a Bafta, but gained warm praise on the night from Lord Puttnam. According to film critic Philip French, "Clooney's excellent film uses the past to make today's media and their audiences address their responsibilities". Clooney himself says his journalist father had a lot to do with it. But what did the public think?
Astrid, 33: It's concerned with bullying on a grand scale. It says as much about neocon America and Iraq as it does about anti-communism in the 1950s. Clooney's drawing parallels between Bush's so-called war on terror and the way McCarthy invoked the "Red menace".
Clive, 41, London: It's more than a biopic of Ed Murrow. It's about the heyday of American broadcast journalism and you come out wishing there were a few men like Murrow around today. It highlights the cowardice and current complacency of the US media. That kind of campaigning journalism seems to be extinct.
Shelley, London: I found it a bit boring. But it did make me reflect on press coverage. Elements of it made me think of the David Kelly affair.
Correia Antonio, 43, Portugal: It is a serious, important film. I think it's all about menace, controlling information and a kind of fascism. It's about something that happened in the 50s and is happening again now, every day and everywhere. Two years ago it was Iraq, and it could be something else tomorrow. I think Clooney was courageous doing this. And I liked the aesthetics of the film.
Hosan, 35, Egypt: I'm curious to know how much is true and how much is not. But it's an interesting spotlight on the importance of keeping things in perspective and the values that are the foundations of modern society. It shows how having a system where people are accountable to the law avoids injustices like the ones associated with McCarthyism. I don't think it's about America today.
Tim Llewellyn, London: People clapped when I saw it. I thought it was powerful and very true to what happened. They filtered in all the archive material very cleverly. It looked and sounded just like the 50s and reminded me of The Sweet Smell of Success. It sort of showed the self-congratulatory, aren't-we-wonderful aspect of TV people everywhere, forever. And it obviously makes you think of present-day America. It deals with events 50 years ago, but points very strongly at the way civil liberties are being eroded now. If Clooney had made this film 10 years ago, I don't think it would have had the same echoes.
Will, New York: I really liked how it was shot in black and white. The cinematography is alternately crisp and brooding. The film rings a lot of bells: it's about a government high on its own power and the importance of freedom of speech. Dissent or questioning government policy isn't disloyalty.
