Great Barrington — While many politicians have expressed hate toward the media over the years, Selectboard member Ben Elliott, who is also the creative director of The Triplex Cinema, understands the need for journalists in today’s complex political world.
“The motto of The Washington Post is ‘democracy dies in darkness,’” Elliott told The Berkshire Edge. “Without a robust active journalism community, democracy dies in darkness. The way that our media landscape has been evolving over the last 20 years, the digital age has really put different pressures on journalism. It’s made local journalism that much harder to be sustainable, and now there are pressures and worries that are part of the field. We are also [entering] what feels like a new territory for democracy, and new kinds of stressors that are being put on our government and our democratic systems. Personally, I’m worried about it, but I’m also curious to see what develops with democracy and journalism. I think that journalism provides an incredible service to the community.”
In light of this, and in light of Election Day right around the corner, Elliott has programmed the film series “Dying in Darkness: Journalism, Politics, and Truth in film.”
The series includes movies from the last 67 years, starting with a showing of “The Parallax View” on Thursday, October 17, at 7 p.m. The 1974 film stars Warren Beatty as a journalist who investigates “The Parallax Corporation” following the assassination of a presidential candidate.
The film will be introduced by Chris Laney from Berkshire Community College.
“During the post-JFK-assassination era, and the Watergate era, there was this centralized kind of conspiracy-based spiritual force behind these events,” Elliott said. “The way that our relationships with conspiracy theories have evolved over the last 50 years, from ‘The Parallax View” up into ‘The X-Files,’ these have all impacted generations. With the digital age, these kinds of conspiracy theories have all been decentralized. There’s just so many voices and so many conspiracy theories that it’s kind of hard to pin down a source for all of these things.”
The series continues with a showing of “A Face in the Crowd” on Sunday, October 20, at 4 p.m. The 1957 film stars Andy Griffith as “Larry ‘Lonesome’ Rhodes,” a drifter picked from obscurity by a radio producer. Griffith’s character eventually becomes a popular national personality who eventually has political and star power.
Trinity College Associate Professor of Political Science Reo Matsuzaki will introduce the film.
“I am super excited to be able to have [‘A Face in the Crowd’] up on the big screen,” Elliott said. “For generations who grew up watching the ‘Andy Griffith Show,’ it’s a startling performance. Griffith uses all of the talents that made him so loveable to create this very dark and dangerous character. The story of this kind of charismatic drifter who builds up a radio show into a national television show, then uses his kind of populist platform to become a political power broker with deep cynicism at his core. The story is incredibly relevant today. It’s a scary kind of warning from a completely different era, and the story is still very alive and modern.”
On Thursday, October 24, at 7 p.m., The Triplex will show “All the President’s Men.” The 1976 film is based on the reporting of Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) and Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) on the Watergate scandal that eventually led President Richard Nixon to resign from office.
Berkshire Eagle Executive Editor Kevin Moran will introduce the film.
“[‘All the President’s Men’] is essentially a detective story,” Elliott said. “It stands as a story of what journalism can do. I think it’s such a great depiction of the power of journalism and the dogged pursuit of the truth. It’s about working leads, following the money, and just investigating all of these things that do not seem to add up on the surface. But if you follow the leads, it can all add up to something.”
Next up in the series is “Medium Cool” from 1969, which will be shown on Sunday, October 27, at 7 p.m. The movie stars Robert Forster as television news cameraman “John Cassellis,” who reports on violence surrounding racial tensions. The character eventually discovers that the television network he works for is supplying his video tapes to the FBI in order to help find suspects. The network fires him after he protests the use of his videotapes, but he then becomes a freelance cameraman who films the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. The film features real footage from the convention.
Barbara Zheutlin, author of “Creative Differences: Profiles of Hollywood Dissidents,” will introduce the film.
“‘Medium Cool’ is probably the least known of the five films that we’re showing, but it’s an amazing film,” Elliott said.
The final film in the series is “Wag the Dog,” starring Robert de Niro and Dustin Hoffman, with a screening on Sunday, November 3, at 4 p.m., two days before Election Day. The 1997 film follows a political spin doctor played by de Niro joining forces with a Hollywood producer played by Hoffman, who both create a fictional war to cover up a presidential sex scandal.
Bill Shein, editor of The Berkshire Argus, will introduce the film.
“I think a lot of people looking back on this think that the movie was inspired by the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, but the movie actually came out a few weeks before it,” Elliott said. “It kind of predicted it in a lot of ways, and the movie showcases the era of the 24-hour news cycle, which is something we are still living with. It also shows the kinds of ways that people try to use Hollywood techniques and narratives in order to manipulate those news cycles.”
Visit The Triplex’s website for more information about the film series.
