One of the many things that seems to get me about movies is when there is this fundamental search for truth in the film. This is one of the characteristics of film noir and neo-noir, one of the cornerstones of the dark, gritty, urban films that strike a chord in most Americans. It is this sort of search for what is really going on that most people can believe in.

But what if the truth is not what we wanted? Or even worse, what if the truth is what we want to find out, only to wish we had never known it in the first place?

Movies like this often are the most shocking, the most memorable. The truth is a petty, yet righteous cause in America. Our exemplars or enemies for various reasons are often the whistleblowers or the muckrackers. Upton Sinclair was the darling of Teddy Roosevelt for his muckracking during the Progressive Era. Jane Fonda was hated for expose/propaganda/rich kid BS of the bombings of Hanoi. Watergate, 'nuff said.

So what about truth in the movies? Sometimes, we are absolutely shocked by it, as is the case of, say, the revelation of Darth Vader being Luke's father (No, that's not possible!). Another example would be that Verbal Kent is indeed Keyser Soze. In other circumstances, the truth makes us bitter and angry at either the characters or something else in the movie. Terminator 3 had the revelation that SkyNet could NOT be destroyed as it was software run on numerous computers over the internet. An even better example would be when we find out, at the end of the British film Layer Cake. (Seeing as that is one of my favorite movies, I am not going to ruin the end here.)

And then there is the final category, truth that we already know. Two words:
SOYLENT GREEN

So, the truth is a tricky subject in film. How do we best adjust to it? Handle it? Consume it? Portray it?

Simple: Do it in black and white.