State of Play

A death, a lover, and politics. These elements are what starts off the movie "State of Play". Russell Crowe, Rachel Mcadams, and Ben Affleck star in this stunning drama about an investigation into a death of a woman who is supposed to be the mistress of a U.S. Congressman. However the initial scene in the movie begins with a seemingly random shooting that is drug related. Newspaper reporter Cal McAffrey was college roommates with the Stephen Collins, the Congressman, so he has a kind of a personal tie to him. Many people come to him asking for information of what he has heard because of this former relationship. The cinematography beautifully depicts the emotions that are running high with all the people involved. At the begining of the movie RACHEL MCADAMS comes into the scene as a new Journalist and at first butts heads with McAffrey. As the film goes on, they become teammates in investigating a possible consipiricy involved with the death. However there is a conflict of interest as McAfferey is continually on Stephen Collins side. Della Frye on the other hand is just interested in getting a story.
There are many interesting ideas of Journalism that are displayed throughout this movie. As the two journalismts try to get across the right message, their boss simply wants a story, no matter who gets hurt in the proccess. She says about the newspaper leaders, "They are interestd in sales not discretion"
There are a lot of points througout this movie where the Journailsts cross lines in order to get their stoiries. They say they are people they arn't, and do things only cops should do so that they can glean information on the story.