News Of The World

Tom Hanks has long been compared to James Stewart. A Hollywood nice guy that nobody has a bad word to say about who also has a very amiable onscreen presence. Those comparisons go into overdrive with the release of News Of The World on Netflix. Like Stewart, Hanks has been around for years before starring in his first western. Should it be his last or could it be the start of a new career avenue? 

Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Hanks) has a unique job to do. Once a Confederate soldier, he now travels around the American South West in the aftermath of the Civil War reading newspapers aloud to the people in the towns he passes through. After leaving one such town he comes across a wrecked wagon and the lynched body of a Native American. In the wreck of the carriage he also finds a young white girl called Johanna (Helena Zengel) dressed in Native American clothing and he's instructed by a passing brigade of Union Soldiers to deliver the child to an army checkpoint where they will return her to the family she was taken from. There he's informed of a three month wait and so he decides to do the job himself, a task that will be made difficult by harsh terrain and the violent men that populate it.

News Of The World is a world apart from the action packed, tension fest's director Paul Greengrass has built his name on over the last two decades and it's all the better for it. It's a mature and considered look at what happens when two broken people are thrown together in a chaotic world. Gone are the shaky cam shots and the palpable sequences of suspense he's known for and in their place is beautiful unspoiled scenery and a couple of lost souls getting to know each other. Hanks can do this kind of thing in his sleep but his Captain Kidd is a hell of a likable person and it's easy to see why Johanna doesn't run screaming from him. That's not to say he's a pushover either but dignity and empathy don't have to be pushed aside by the ability to handle a double barrelled shotgun. Both can co-exist and Hank's combines them perfectly.

Little Helena Zengel (so good in System Crasher, check it out) nails the part of Johanna too. A child struck down by double tragedies but not ready to give up just yet. Johanna barely talks but her eyes betray the horrors she's seen. An innkeeper (Elizabeth Marvel) speaks the Kiowan language Johanna now converses in and gives Kidd a taste of her past in a gutpunch of a scene and it's here both begin to warm to each other and although it's done in a way we've seen a 1000 times before, it's still a joy to witness. The time and land they are travelling through is a dark, mean place and those slivers of warmth are what you'll be grasping for.

News Of The World might be set 150 years ago but it's not hard to spot the pointed similarities between America then and America now. Authority figures with itchy trigger fingers, blatant racism, violent bullying militia, and leaders using carefully chosen language and news to keep the populace in check. Parallels that come to a head in a coal mining town where Kidd is forced to read news to an unhappy crowd but then uses his showman skills to get out of a tricky situation. What happens next might be wish fulfillment but it's both a wink at the audience and a satisfying way out. 

News Of The World is streaming now on Netflix and it is worth your time. It might be sedately paced but it leads to a well earned emotional climax that doesn't rely on cheap sentimentality. That's always welcome. 

Oh btw, see if you can spot the BLATANT nod to The Searchers. Even if you haven't ever seen the film something will ring a bell. It made this ol' western nerd smile anyway.