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Nov 09, 2023

Why Shattered Glass Is One of the Best Journalism Movies Ever Made

While Shattered Glass has sadly been somewhat forgotten, it’s become more timely

While Shattered Glass has sadly been somewhat forgotten, it's become more timely than ever before.

Cinema and the field of journalism have a symbiotic relationship that is important for the growth of both industries. Ever since the earliest days of filmmaking, journalists have studied, criticized, and questioned the popularity of the cinematic art form. As a result, films have often depicted what journalism looks like in practice. There are many types of journalism movies; some are grounded biopics like All The President's Men, some are lighthearted comedies like His Girl Friday, some are psychological thrillers like Nightcrawler, and some are incredible works of nonfiction storytelling like Citizenfour. However, any veteran journalist or lifelong cinephile needs to do themselves a favor and check out the underrated 2003 film Shattered Glass.

Shattered Glass is based on the incredible true scandal, in which The New Republic reporter Stephen Glass was revealed to be writing fabricated stories for the respected publication. The film explores how Glass’ coworkers grow to steadily realize that he is being deceptive, and contemplate the future of their jobs, publication, and industry. Hayden Christensen starred as Glass in one of his few major roles outside of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and Peter Sarsgaard received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as The New Republic editor Chuck Lane. While Shattered Glass has sadly been somewhat forgotten, it's become more timely than ever before. The film's unflinching analysis of ethical practices in an era of digital discourse make it one of the best journalism movies ever made.

Journalism is inherently a form of media that affects more than one person. News stories are written about public and private figures that cause them to have reactions, and institutions will undoubtedly change based on the nature of reporting. Due to this, it's necessary for journalism movies to show the process behind greenlighting, writing, double-checking, and publishing stories of note. Shattered Glass does this by fleshing out all the members of The New Republic writing staff that were affected by Glass’ lies. Not only does this put their publication in the middle of a public scandal that negatively affects their careers, but it's more challenging for them to contemplate considering the personal friendship that they shared with Glass.

The film shows how Glass was able to use his uncharacteristically awkward behavior to gain the appreciation and sympathy of the news team. Initially, the suggestion that he may have made mistakes during his reporting is met with confusion. There are key scenes dedicated to each character's point-of-view. There's a pivotal moment where a concerned Glass reunites with the former The New Republic editor Michael Kelly (Hank Azaria); while he expects his former mentor to offer him support, Kelly instead has to wrestle with the fear that some of Glass’ fabrications were published during his tenure. The film shows how Glass essentially turns the news staff against Lane, whose intent to unpack his stories further is taken as a personal insult.

Related: Best Movies About Journalism, Ranked

Shattered Glass was released in 2003 during a period of growth for internet media. While the prospects of more immersive reporting are exciting, it's also unexplored territory that leads to gaps in media literacy. Glass fabricates sources including a fake website and false phone numbers in order to ensure that he has notes to back up his claims. Initially, this doesn't strike Lane as odd, as he's unaware that creating a fake website is such an easy thing to do. The lack of images needed to back up sources also affects The New Republic's credibility. Writer and director Billy Ray pays close attention to the fine details in order to maintain the film's sense of realism.

It's often that many older films now feel out-of-date because of their misconceptions of developments in the evolution of the internet. While Independence Day, WarGames, and Hackers are all entertaining movies, they all contain story beats that revolve around the Internet that seem laughable by today's standards. Due to the thorough nature of Shattered Glass's screenplay, it feels like a time capsule of the era it was released. It's actually a prophetic story in how it examines the necessity of truthfulness amidst controversial circumstances.

Related: 12 Best Peter Sarsgaard Movies, Ranked

Christensen's acting merits have been debated and examined over the course of his career. Unfortunately, Christensen received a lot of criticism for his performance as Anakin Skywalker in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith; many of these complaints were unfair, as critics decided to blame Christensen for issues that director George Lucas was responsible for. Nevertheless, it's impossible to watch Shattered Glass and not be impressed with his work. Christensen creates a humanized depiction of a man who shields his fragile ego by pretending to be a victim; the frantic apologies that Glass makes are initially heartbreaking, but slowly his deceptive nature comes to the attention of both the other characters and the audience.

The film relies upon Christensen to change the audience's point-of-view. The film both opens and closes with Glass’ interior thoughts, suggesting that he is the protagonist of the story. Christensen succeeds in giving an initially charismatic performance as a somewhat emotional, but good-natured reporter who is simply in over his head. His subtlety makes the revelations even more shocking. In the film's incredible ending sequence, it's revealed that the presentation that Glass had been making to a classroom of students is entirely in his head.

Christensen's excellence was among the most praised aspects of the film during its release. Roger Ebert praised how he made "Glass' career believable by being utterly plausible himself," and said that the aspects of his performance that were completely wrong for Attack of the Clones worked brilliantly in Shattered Glass. In a rave review, Variety critic Todd McCarthy said "Christensen is entirely convincing in expressing the qualities Glass needed to get as far as he did at such an early age." Hopefully those that doubted Christensen before will give him more credit after watching Shattered Glass.

Liam Gaughan is a writer at MovieWeb. He has been writing film reviews and news coverage for eight years with bylines at Collider, Dallas Observer, About.com, Taste of Cinema, Dallas Morning News, Schmoes Know, Rebel Scum, and Central Track. He aims to get his spec scripts produced and currently writes short films and stage plays. He lives in McKinney, TX.