Frank Capra, Meet John Doe - Movie Review Example

Movie Review Among many works of the ical era of cinematography, the movie directed by Frank Capra, Meet John Doe, holds a remarkable place as it isn’t a mere love story, but a movie covering an extremely wide range of social, political and general human issues. In 1941, the director filmed a real political blockbuster revealing the structure of social manipulation. The lucky move of a news-writer Ann Mitchell inspired by the fear of dismissal got much public response in the contemporary American society.

The ideas laid forth by the fictional John Doe in his letter to the newspaper caught fancy of many people, though there was virtually nothing innovative or unexpected in his point of view. Keeping in mind public reaction, power players got involved in realization of John Doe project, picking out a man ready to play the role for money and disappear at the right moment. However, the “actor” eventually realizes the scale of social manipulations and sets himself against his puppeteers. The movie vibrantly reflects the topic of social manipulation and power play, vesting it in the settings of contemporary New York and then the entire America.

Here, I would like to mention Harry Cooper’s brilliant acting – to my thinking, Capra chose a perfect man to embody the image of John Doe, the symbol of protests against rotten social order.The topic that was most vividly illustrated in the Meet John Doe movie is definitely the role of mass media in public conscience and its ambiguous nature. No invention can be exclusively positive or negative by its nature – it only has potential. Mass media is an example of such invention depicted in the movie.

On one hand, newspapers and radio plat and grow the idea in minds of thousands of people – good idea celebrating unity and mutual respect among “average” citizens. On the other hand, it is mass media that distort this idea, convert it to the use of political campaigns and make the adherents abandon John Doe’s ideas. Here, on the example of Ann Mitchel and others, a narrower topic of journalist ethics is raised. At the same time, the ideas professed by John Doe are rather close to biblical ones, reminding average people of general human morality – Mitchell encourages them via Willoughby’s voice on the radio to help and unite with their neighbors, implying that such average people are the nation, not the politicians.

The movie is an absolute masterpiece despite the fact that it wasn’t fully appreciated after release in 1941. Classical work of the world’s cinema, it remains relevant nowadays, appealing to modern people and appealing to the same issues even now, after more than seventy years. Naturally, it isn’t surprising as manipulation mechanisms and simple humanity remain burning topics in our society, the society on fire of media wars. To add more, it was the contents of the movie and its inherent message that became a matter of my concern and scrutinous attention, as topics it devoted to are extremely important and relevant.

At the same time, the effect produced by the film would’ve been not so fully-fledged without a balanced combination of all the aspects of film-making. Here, brilliant acting and wise directing, lively soundtrack and appealing “classical lighting” and an immense inner sense are combined with the well-elaborated plot. Although the movie has a considerable length of almost two hours, the spectator is never bored and the plot ensures the dynamic sequence of events. In conclusion, I would like to add, that Meet John Doe is absolutely marvelous, and – to my thinking – it is terribly misappreciated.

Moreover, I think it to be a cut above the famous Casablanca, as it is much more dynamic and interesting for an average nowadays’ spectator.