The Loudest Voice

Im conflicted. This was both a very hard watch and at the same time, very enthralling thing to watch. Ol' Rusty wiped the floor with this mesmerising performance and his Golden Globe was well deserved (I dont not have enough adjectives for this). Although I personally have not seen a bad performance from him, his acting recently has been reminiscent of his time in the 90s and early 2000s where he was willing to take edgier, more complex roles. Here, he has tapped into his sinisterly menacing side in a way that he has not done since Hando in Romper Stomper. I cannot gush enough about his performance. Nor can I fail to mention the other main actors (Watts, Miller, McFarlane, Wallis and even McBurney in a small role as Murdoch), who all brought their A-game to this mini-series. The writing and direction; makeup (bloody hell they did such a good job on Crowe and Miller and McBurney); sound and set designs and score all make this fit perfectly into the time frame it inhabits. My only query with it was why it also didnt show how Fox influenced Bush Jnr's elections, but 7 episodes more than got its message across. (And if the absolutely outstanding Chernobyl hadnt have come out in the same year, I could see this wiping the floor in awards.) So, why am I conflicted? Spending 7 hours of my life with someone like Ailes was hard...very hard. I watched this series in 3 sittings. I sometimes work intensely for long times with people whom are hard to be around and whose priorities sometimes leave a lot to be desired. But Ailes was something else... Watching his two-faced, racist, sexist, elitist, sociopathic tendencies be given so much free reign and power without balance was excruciating at times (again Crowe's acting - wow). I want to recommend this series as it is compelling and should be essential viewing into how the MSM can really change what we perceive as news and influence (rather than report) what happens in our day to day lives. As well as thinking about how this has flowed out and influenced news in other parts of the world. I want people to be able to see how a biased news can cause so much division by spreading half-truths and blatant lies to forward their Exec's agendas. But I think this might be too much for a lot of people. Ailes was not a person I could stand to spend 5 minutes with; let alone suggest someone else do the same. But... I think it's needed. Please watch this mini-series, and the BBC's doco on Murdoch too - understanding where our information comes from is so important in making real change in this world.