Does the Truth Always Set You Free
Does the Truth Always Set You Free? On the Waterfront is a classic, award-winning and controversial film. It received eight academy-awards in 1954, including best-picture and director. The director, Eliza Kazan, in collaboration with Budd Schulberg wrote the film's screenplay. Based on actual dockside events in Hoboken, New Jersey, On the Waterfront is a story of a dock worker who tried to overthrow a corrupt union. Marlon Brando superbly portrays the character of Terry Malloy. He is a young ex-prize fighter, now a dock worker given easy jobs because his brother is the right-hand man of the corrupt union boss Johnny Friendly. After Terry unwittingly allows himself to be used in setting up a man's death, he starts to question the basic assumptions if his life. This includes his loyalty to his brother and Johnny, who after all ordered him to take a dive in his big fight at Madison Square Garden. The film's controversy exists in the fact that Terry decides to testify against Johnny Friendly. His testimony attempts to show how it is fundamentally right to break group silence in a tough situation, even if a person appears to "rat" on his friends. To be at peace with oneself, Kazan seems to say, one must tell the truth, despite the fa
ct that one will face ostracism, and, as in the film, probably be murdered. Kazan makes the hardships of testifying painfully clear. Thus, Brando's character is a hero. However, a dark agenda exists behind the film's plot. On the Waterfront was made in 1954, two years after Kazan willingly testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee. In 1952, Kazan named the names of eight friends and colleges allegedly affiliated with the communist party. Kazan was an active member of the communist party in the 1930s, until he went through a violent break with the party prior to the hearings. He said that communism could override a person's intellect and beliefs. He also stated that Hollywood and Broadway heavily financed the party. Recounting his decision to testify, Kazan said, "Communists were in a lot of organizations--unseen, unrecognized, unbeknownst to anybody. I thought if I don't talk, nobody will know about it." On the Waterfront is Kazan's justification for his decision to testify. In the film, when a union boss shouts, "You ratted on us Terry," Brando shouts back: "Maybe from where your standing, but I'm standing over here now. I was rattin' on myself all those years. I didn't even know it." That reflects Kazan's belief that communism was an evil that temporality seduced him and it was necessary to oppose it. Since Kazan believed that communism was an evil threat to the American way of life, he tried to portray his decision to testify as a heroic act of valor. He wanted to show the public that a person who testifies is brave, not a coward. Throughout the film there are a number of references to the code of silence, "D n' D", or "Deaf and Du
Some common words found in the essay are:
Friendly Terry, Roger Ebert, Terry Brando, Johnny Friendly, Deaf Dumb, Friendly You're, Activities Committee, Terry Malloy, Father Barry, Can't Can't, decision testify, terry malloy, dock worker, corrupt union, truth set, union boss, johnny friendly, friendly terry, communism evil, communist party,
Approximate Word count = 1120
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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