A MOMENT OF YOUR TIME // A FILM REVIEW OF "NEWS OF THE WORLD"
You may not expect a quiet, slow burning Western that is a tribute to journalism everywhere from the director of the action packed Jason Bourne films. But Paul Greengrass ends up being the perfect choice to tell the delicate and powerfully simple tale of a Captain in the Army who travels from town to town telling anyone who will listen the NEWS OF THE WORLD. Tom Hanks plays Captain Jefferson Kidd, a Civil War vet who has taken it upon himself to go from town to town and read the news to local residents. For ten cents and a few moments of your time, you too can hear about what is happening in towns that you'll most likely never see. He tells both heartwarming stories and horrific happenings, such as a coal mine cave in. During his travels he comes upon a black man hanging from a tree, a victim of a local lynching. A young girl named Johanna, played by Helena Zengel, has been left behind. Seems that the black man was transporting her to her home. Captain Kidd is a man who is traveling the world because he's running away from the horrors he has seen in the war, but he is a good man that knows he has to make sure this young girl finds her home.
He takes the girl under his wing, who he finds out is an orphan twice over. She was kidnapped from her birth family and raised by the Kiowa tribe and now that family has left this earth as well. She speaks no English, only the language of her tribe which Kidd doesn't understand. Still, he's able to slowly be able to communicate with her and heads towards the only family she still has left, which is in the Hill Country far away. Along the way they will run into trouble, just as a classic Western typically would, and even some classic shoot outs are in the future. Doing the opposite of what his phenomenal Bourne films do (frenetic energy with non-stop action), director and co-writer Paul Greengrass takes it's time and plays NEWS OF THE WORLD just as if it came out in the 1950's. Tom Hanks is strong and stoic here, powerful in his silence and oozing goodness from every pore. Helena Zengel is wonderful as well, never playing it as a precocious child but rather turning in a restrained and powerful performance wise beyond her years. The supporting cast around them are also great, but this is their story and both Hanks and Zengel are more than up to the task. Aided by some beautiful cinematography by Dariusz Wolski, NEWS OF THE WORLD is a throwback film that works fully on how earnest and honest it is. And a testament of how important the word of the news is.
GRADE: A-
BASED UPON THE NOVEL BY Paulette Jiles SCREENPLAY BY Paul Greengrass, Luke Davies DIRECTED BY Paul Greengrass STARRING Tom Hanks, Helena Zengel, Thomas Francis Murphy, Ray McKinnon, Elizabeth Marvel, Bill Camp. NOW PLAYING IN SELECT THEATRES AND ON DEMAND IN DIGITAL CINEMAS EVERYWHERE. For more info: https://www.newsoftheworldfilm.com/