Movies can be made for a variety of reasons, such as political, and it can give an audience a deeper connection to the movies they’re watching. The Conversation is a slow moving thriller that will keep you thinking about the movie long after it’s over. The ending is so ambiguous, it can be interpreted in many different ways. This movie won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I absolutely enjoyed it. The movie is wonderfully acted and the protagonist, Harry Caul, is a deep character that you slowly get to learn about throughout the movie. The Conversation is about one man’s obsession, specifically Harry Caul, with a conversation recording. He is a man that’s deeply in his conscience and wants to right his pass wrongs. He is a devout Catholic, a loner, socially awkward, and very private. He’s also very professional, an expert, and one of the best in the field of surveillance. He’s on a mission, supposedly, to save a women from getting murdered. What ends up happening is so surreal, he ends up completely questioning himself about the whole situation.

In the beginning of the movie, you get to see Harry Caul doing one of his best work in surveillance along with some of his associates. He is recording a couple’s conversation in the busy Union Square of San Francisco. This couple felt safe talking in such a busy area with different conversations, street noises, and music in the background. Harry Caul is one of the best surveillance experts and was able to get it done with his team and all his high tech gadgets. The clip below shows how exactly that surveillance job was done.

When it came time to turning in that recording, Harry Caul didn’t want to leave the tape with the client’s assistant, but want to personally hand it over to the client himself. He started to wonder what was in that recording and became secretly obsessed about it. He started to get very involved, especially when he heard the words, “he’d kill us if he got the chance” in the end of the recording. Those words haunted him continuously throughout the movie, mainly because of his past in which one of his recordings ended up getting a family murdered. He was never supposed to get involved or even care about the people that are in the tapes. He was suppose to only record conversations and just turn in those recordings. The clip below shows Harry Caul’s reaction when he first heard the words, “he’d kill us if he got the chance,” from the surveillance recording.

The movie had mostly positive reviews from critics. It was nominated for three Academy Awards in 1974. It received a 96 percent on rottentomatoes.com and IMDB gave it a score of 7.8 out of 10.  According to the New York Times written in 1974, The Conversation is different because, “the movie leaves you wanting more, which is a nice change.” In a more recent review from Roger Ebert, he states, “The movie works on that moral level, and also as a taut, intelligent thriller.”

Because of the subject of surveillance in the movie, it caused much controversy at the time. During the time the film was released, the watergate scandal became more prevalent. In March 2, 1974, The New York Times headline read, “Federal Grand Jury Indicts 7 Nixon Aides On Charges Of Conspiracy On Watergate; Haleman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell On List”. This is the first time so many advisers of the U.S. President faced criminal charges in a single indictment. A lot people thought that the movie, which was released on April 7, 1974, was based on the aftermath of that scandal but Coppola concluded that the film was written before the Nixon Administration. He also noted that the film was finished months before most relevant news stories were released about the scandal. Coppola only learned later that the surveillance and wire-tapping equipment used in this movie was also used by members of the Nixon Administration in the watergate scandal. That scandal also led to another important event that year, Nixon’s resignation.

On December 22, 1974, New York Times released a story about the CIA illegally spying on the antiwar movement and their perceived adversaries. According to the New York Times, “An extensive investigation by The New York Times has established that intelligence files on at least 10,000 American citizens were maintained by a special unit of the C.I.A.” The paranoia of the people fearing that the government is listening to everything was definitely on some of the people’s minds in the U.S.

In an article from The Atlantic written by Alexander Huls, he writes about the movie, The Conversation, and has a warning about the technology. He writes, “It all seems to stem from the very thing The Conversation warns us about: how easy it is to turn people into faceless ones and zeroes.” This was Harry Caul’s job after all. To collect data, give it to his clients, and not worry about anything else besides that. This is a must watch for someone wanting to see an intelligent movie that delves deeply into your brain.