Cinema in Context: Network

(1976) dir Sidney Lumet w/Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, Robert Duvall, Wesley Addy, Ned Beatty [121 min; 35mm]

When a fired news anchor goes off the deep end on air and unexpectedly gains a following, his former network cynically exploits this newfound popularity with a blatant disregard for his wellbeing. 40+ years later, NETWORK remains a masterpiece of dark satire and a sadly prescient look at what's become of mainstream news media.

Christopher Robichaud is Senior Lecturer in Ethics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Director of Pedagogical Innovation at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics. His interests surround ethics, political philosophy, and social epistemology, with a focus on examining the role of truth and knowledge in well-functioning democracies, and on understanding what the post-truth age of politics is.

CINEMA IN CONTEXT is a new periodic program at the Brattle that explores the ways in which cinema can be used to examine topics in the social sciences – and also serve as an historical document that plays a large part in our understanding of culture, society, and history.

Each screening is preceded by a presentation from a scholar or expert, with the aim of deepening our understanding of the film and addressing how it reflects popular ideas of issues in their chosen field. Select screenings will also be followed by a Q&A with the audience