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 In the film, which airs on premium cable channel HBO on
Monday, Oscar-winner Scorsese and co-director David Tedeschi
take a behind-the-scenes look at The New York Review of Books,
which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year and has
influenced generations of writers and readers alike.
"I remember discovering it on the newspaper stand in '63 when it
first came out," Scorsese said. "It still has an impact on me."
"The 50 Year Argument" details the review's founding through a
series of timely coincidences - a New York newspaper strike,
dissatisfaction with how books were being written about and a
dinner party conversation.
Poet Robert Lowell and his wife, literary critic and author
Elizabeth Hardwick, discussed the idea with editor and publisher
Jason Epstein and his wife, Barbara. They turned to their friend
Robert B. Silvers to edit it. Barbara Epstein, who died in 2006,
joined him.
"We were not seeking to be part of the establishment; we were
seeking to examine the establishment," Silvers, 84, who is still
the editor, says in the film.
Although it began with the intent of reviewing books and
championing writers, during its five decades it has grown into
an institution, reporting on the arts, politics and major news
ranging from Vietnam to Iraq with commentary from leading
writers and thinkers.
"It really was a challenge," said Scorsese, "how to make it
exciting and interesting to a young generation when information
is immediate to them and opinions are everywhere."
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Scorsese found the emotional and visual impact he needed in the
people interviewed for the film, including Silvers in his cramped,
book-filled office; linguist Noam Chomsky and Irish playwright Colm
Toibin as well as archival footage of writers Susan Sontag, James
Baldwin and others.
"I thought maybe to structure it like a piece of music and the music
would be the words and the people's faces, and then the words
themselves up on the screen," Scorsese explained.
In the film, author Zoe Heller speaks about the review's honesty and
bravery in publishing stories that other newspapers would shy away
from. Toibin talks about the sensuousness of ideas and attests to
the review's impact on him and the lives of residents of far-away
Dublin.
Writer Michael Greenberg also recounts covering the Occupy Wall
Street protests and Yasmine El Rashidi describes the reaction and
aftermath of writing about demonstrations in Cairo when her reports
went against the grain of what other news organizations were saying.
The trade magazine Variety found the film "an incisive portrait of a
vanguard cultural institution," while the Hollywood Reporter
described it as "a handsome and stimulating documentary."
"The 50 Year Argument is not a major Scorsese work. But it is a
warm, engaging, celebratory love letter from one New York
institution to another," it added.
(Editing by Eric Kelsey and G Crosse)
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