Through a focus on the life of Dalton Trumbo (1905-1976), this film examines the effects on individuals and families of a congressional pursuit of Hollywood Communists after World War II. Trumbo was one of several writers, directors, and actors who invoked the First (rather than the typical Fifth) Amendment in refusing to answer questions under oath.We have insights from Donald Sutherland; we also have Michael Douglas, Nathan Lane, Brian Dennehy and Liam Neeson reading letters in their smooth, rich voices. What a great way to welcome audiences to the story of political persecution.Trumbo himself says that "people joined the Communist Party because they felt it was doing something". He never really comes out and embraces Communism, but the whole era was a mess -- America allied with the Russians in World War II, and once the Nazis were defeated, anyone with Communist sympathies was tossed aside.This film also has great archive footage of Walt Disney and others.

For those of us too young to remember first-hand the evils of that horrid period in American history known as McCarthyism and the rampant loss of freedom & justice during its barbaric witch-hunts, this is a profoundly important film to watch.At a time when terms like "patriot" are increasingly misused, abused and bastardized, the story of writer, Dalton Trumbo, and others like him who suffered grave injustices in the hands of their own fellow countrymen, needs to be heard far & wide and esp. by the young in this country.I wished they would add this film & others like it to every high-school history-class curriculum, as they are just as relevant today. An immensely moving and heartbreaking story & an absolute must-see (be sure to read the closing credits.) ~NN

When many people think of movies several thoughts came in mind: Who are the actors? Is this a good movie? Who directed? But many times we forget to ask ourselves who wrote it and why someone wrote this kind of movie? After all writers are the real movie creators, they develop a story, plot, scenery, what period the story is set, everything comes from a good story. Author, novelist and screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (1905 - 1976) was one of the greatest writers of all time not only on-screen but off-screen too. Many of his credits are well known films such as "Papillon", "Johnny Got His Gun", "Spartacus" and "Roman Holiday". But why is he so famous you may wonder. Sadly, Trumbo was enlisted in the Black List of artists considered to be Comunists by the House of Un-American Ativities in the late 1950's. After that he was arrested for a year, released but he couldn't work anymore because he was one of the Hollywood Ten figures to not answer some of the Congress's questions. "Trumbo" is a documentary about the man in all of his forms: writer, father, person, husband, friend and more. Directed by Peter Askin and written by Christopher Trumbo (Dalton's son) based on his own play, this documentary is an original look into the life and work of one the greatest screenwriters of all time. Not only that. An ensemble cast appears performing and reading many letters written by Trumbo during his different moments in life. Michael Douglas, Joan Allen, David Strathairn, Josh Lucas, Donald Sutherland, Liam Neeson, Brian Dennehy, Nathan Lane and Paul Giamatti puts the emotion by reading and performing Dalton's vision of the world, his fights against the people who harmed him and many others brilliant pieces of writing. Here there's testimonies of people who met him, like his son, some friends, Dustin Hoffman, Kirk Douglas (who helped Trumbo during the period when he couldn't write by giving Trumbo an screen credit for his work on "Spartacus") and we seen archive footage of Trumbo himself in many interviews. This great man was a strong supporter of freedom of speech, a great liberal that was misunderstood in his time when many thought that he was Comunist because of the subjects and the way dealt with it in his films. But he was also a fighter, that fought against all the problems he had, stood up for those who were his friends, an peaceful and funny warrior. To quote his own words: "I don't look for trouble but they look for me". An interesting subject that appears here is all of Trumbo's works on movies during the Black List period using a fake name (The Front). He wrote many movies using a front, one of them is "Roman Holiday" and the other was "The Brave One" (under the name of Robert Rich). "The Brave One" won an Academy Award of Best Screenplay in 1957 and no one attended at the Ceremony to pick the Oscar. Of course, Trumbo couldn't show up because he was forbidden to write, Motion Picture Association wouldn't let. But the Oscar was given to him years later. It's a very interesting thing that doesn't happen these days, screenwriters nowadays doesn't have that kind of experience to put into an screenplay. Trumbo did that, used his own hard experience in movies like "Spartacus", "Papillon" and "Johnny Got His Gun". If you pay attention to this movies when they appear in the documentary you will notice that the characters quotes are a reflexion over Trumbo's life but at the same time it's something that fit very well in the movies. Highly recommended! 10/10

I thought I knew Trumbo. You know, saw his movie and many movies which he wrote. I also knew he was one of the Hollywood 10. So superficially, yes, here is a guy I like, one of the good guys.But I did not know he was SUCH a good guy. Here is a man who fought for his principles, who went through terrible duress... and was never broken. Here is a man who sees how his little daughter is ostracized and mentally tortured for being the daughter of a Commie, and writes a beautiful and indignant letter to the principal of her school in response. Here is a man who playfully writes to his teenage son telling him it's OK to masturbate. Here is a man who writes to his friends, telling them of his troubles, thanking them for their support, and who says he was of course in contempt of the Committee: he felt nothing but contempt for them.And although I was moved all along, I had to break into tears when he mentioned the fall of Barcelona in the Spanish Civil War and how he would have liked to have been here, and maybe if "we" had been here, Barcelona would not have fallen and a better world would have been possible... or else fall with the city and be buried in its ruins, as nothing else mattered.Here is an unsung hero. We need many, many more men like him.