An Appreciation by Jerry Saravia
Oliver Stone has always been an incendiary, provocative film director and who better than Stone to tell the story of an incendiary and provocative talk show host. This shock jock is so incendiary that when he attends a basketball game as a guest speaker, he is relentlessly booed and the crowd practically drowns out his speech. The hostile radio personality is Barry Champlain (Eric Bogosian) who is not a racist or prejudiced, nor a misogynist (he pokes fun of them with a less than delicate hand). The calls Barry receives on his high-ratings show generally are racist, prejudiced and misogynist, and some are worse than that. Of course, scene after riveting scene, Champlain loves getting these calls - it feeds his appetite and is what makes the show a ratings bonanza in Dallas. He gives the people what they want, and he relishes it and devours it without blinking. Or does he? Is it starting to consume him, all these random callers?
Bogosian's Barry is an unhappy, paranoid, obnoxious man who was once married and now has a tolerant girlfriend (Leslie Hope) who is his producer (though he shamelessly refers to her as his secretary). The man always had it in him to berate his callers and call them out on their stupidity, their histrionic comments, etc. In a truly stirring and powerful final sequence, Stone rotates his camera 360 degrees to capture Barry baring his soul to his listeners, arguing and yelling at them and trying to figure out what they want from him. Watching "Talk Radio" now in this day and age of innumerable podcasts (some of which are probably as incendiary as Champlain is), baring one's soul is not something you see or hear and certainly not to this degree. Based on the true story of a Denver radio talk show host Alan Berg (who was shot and killed by white supremacists), you start to wonder where the needle falls in terms of shock and awe - is there a chance Barry goes too far? Is going too far reducing his chances with a media company who has an interest in making his show go nationwide? Barry's job is to weed out his listeners who call in, and hang up on them. As "Talk Radio" progresses to a gradually intense finale, he is not hanging up on them - he is listening and yet hates himself for doing it. Or is Barry just a self-hating man who taunts his callers, including one who is a Holocaust denier who may or may not have sent him a mysterious package? How much of a future is there in being a relentless shock jock?
The flashbacks in the middle of "Talk Radio" are sepia-toned flashes of a long curly-haired Barry working in a men's clothing store who meets one of his talk show idols. Barry's voice is enough to suggest a future in radio and we see, almost immediately, how he shuns and cheats on his displeased wife (Ellen Greene). They get a divorce yet she still loves him and tries to break through him when she calls in to his show. Unshakable truths are conveyed and she realizes he will not change for anyone.
I once saw Bogosian perform his thrilling, hilarious one-man show, "Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll," and the overall effect of being confrontational is the exact same effect I had watching "Talk Radio." Only Bogosian liked what he was doing - there was a joy of performance on stage that was incalculable. I don't think Champlain enjoys what he does.
