Review of Network (1976) by Andrew M — 10 Oct 2011

Inarguably one of the finest farces in cinema. Not many movies can engross audiences for two hours of rising action with the climaxing denouement, Sidney executes it here. We watch as each prominent character goes through a temperamental trend: Duvall with his ego, Dunaway with her moxie, Holden with his sagacity, and Finch with his insanity.

The growth is breathtaking. During an early scene, Finch admits, on air, that he'll be committing suicide in the days to come. This deftly foreshadows his later demise by the same corporation that made him go bonkers in the first place.

Faye's manipulative, cutthroat role is the most entertaining, though: she embodies everything in the sinister corporate world that rules without flinching. The monologues prove, by themselves alone, that the supernatural acting witnessed doesn't usually occur in the same movie.

Sidney Lumet, after all, is an actor's director. "No America" "No Democracy" "The Individual is Finished" - all of these pithy lines create the organic makeup of what Network sets out to do: inform citizens that the world is now run by a college of corporations, since it's simply a business.

The content is unbreakably strong, yet the form steals the show: opening and closing with quad-screen of news stations (donut effect), the stead crescendo of intensity till the ending climax, along with many time lapses to propel the story forward swiftly.

I'm thoroughly shocked the sound dept didn't walk away with a Statue but hell with it. I get chills every time one of the brilliant actors begins to raise his/her voice. Add it to Lumet's panoply of tour de forces.