Movie Review: Shattered Glass

                                                 

The film Shattered Glass (2003), directed by Billy Ray, is based on the exposé published in Vanity Fair magazine in 1998. It was written by Buzz Bissinger who detailed Stephen Glass’s fabricated stories, the fallout from his actions, and the efforts of his editor who uncovered the fraud. Later on, the story was adapted by Billy Ray in the movie which gave him a directorial debut.  

From the beginning of the movie, it makes use of flashbacks to explore how Stephen Glass constructed his lies  and manipulated people in his office. He is seen describing students about the morals of journalism in the classroom which juxtaposes with immediate scenes where he is violating the very ethics in the newsroom.

When the movie is at its peak during the scene of “Hack Heaven” story, it uses cross-cutting editing to build the intensity of the scene that follows. For instance, in the first scene, Glass narrates the hacker’s story in detail which impresses everyone in the office. The story gets published, his coworkers are jealous of his quick fame and rise. Meanwhile, in another simultaneous scene, Adam Penenberg, a reporter from Forbes Magazine, finds problems in his story, and cannot verify details about the hacker or the conference as mentioned. At this point, even though Penenberg knows the truth, Glass is still faking everyone, including his editor, his version of events.

 

Similarly, the most important prop used in the movie is a notebook. Throughout the movie, Stephen constantly references the notes he claims to have taken, which he uses to back up his fabricated stories. His editors rely on these notes for fact-checking, and both editors(Kelly & Chuck) believe his lies.

Although the film is suspenseful, it depicts complex events by simplifying them excessively. It fails to detail the newsroom environment that allowed a single journalist to fool the whole team of fact-checkers and editors. Stephen's performance makes it clear that he struggles inside to stand true to his lies, but the film does not fully depict the preparation he does to hide them or the psychological reasons behind his behavior. 

Movie mostly flows in a linear narrative due to which it feels like a slow paced movie. Likewise, its visual focus is on the newsroom scenes, investigations and professional set up with natural light, as a result, it doesn't have flashy charm to please the eyes except for its story which keeps us involved. It feels like Stephen is the only villain but the whole media house is involved in giving him space to rise up in an unethical manner. 

Thus, the movie takes us purely into the journalistic world, shows us the loopholes in media companies, their prioritization of fun and entertaining news, questions the journalistic ethics, role of reporter, fact-checker and editor in the newsroom. It shakes us to the core as it reveals how a reporter, driven by the desire for fame, digs himself deeper into lies to cover up one falsehood after another. In the late 1900s and early 2000s, people like Janet Cooke (Washington Post 1981), Ruth Shalit (The New Republic 1996), and Jayson Blair (New York Times 2003) were also involved in stories which were plagiarised and fabricated. “Shattered Glass” covers no different story then the social happening in journalism during that time. Like all other movies of Billy Ray, this movie focuses on social reality, truth and morality.