Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)

No doubt this lands a little differently in 2025 than in 2004. Today, it's hard to shake the conflicting feeling of being completely in agreement with the film's politics broadly understood, yet also frustrated that the past 10 years have shown that this highly responsible kind of 'Civics Lesson politics' has been shown to be completely ineffective.

Though never overstepping the story’s period-specific confines, the film’s contemporary allusions are nonetheless there for those who would seek them: McCarthy’s uncompromising view of good and evil (and slandering of anyone who opposed his cause, including the ACLU) is meant to recall George W.’s post-9/11 “You’re either with us or against us” declaration and the payback-motivated leaking of Valerie Plame’s covert C.I.A. status; his dogged refusal to supply evidence against accused communists, instead preferring to try suspects on speculation and hearsay, is intended to evoke the current brouhaha surrounding prisoner rights at Guantanamo; and his justification that “security risks” necessitate the bending of constitutional freedoms is expected to parallel similar rationalizations for the Patriot Act.

— Nick Schager and Ed Gonzalez (Slant Magazine)