An alternate title for News of the World must have been Tom Hanks: America’s Dad. The uber talented actor has been wowing the world for years with his characters. As he’s aged, Hanks has found his niche as the empathetic father figure, playing characters like Mr. Rogers or Ben Bradlee. Hanks leans into that persona further with News of the World, but even more literally, which means the next film he’s going to be a father of 7 or something that adopts an entire orphanage to care for I expect.
Before he starts feeding Johanna (Helena Zengel), Captain Kidd (Hanks) feeds townspeople of various towns in 1870 with something else: the news of the world. Kidd buys newspapers and reads out the best stories to townsfolk for a small fee. After one such reading, Kidd sees a dead Native American man hanging in the forest, and finds young Johanna living out there near the body. Captain Kidd takes her to the local authorities, who tell him that the girl’s family are dead, except for an aunt and uncle over 400 miles away. Benevolent man that he is, Kidd agrees to take Johanna to these relatives. On a lengthy trail. Filled with peril from all sides.
Director Paul Greengrass and Tom Hanks teamed up previously on the very exciting Captain Phillips. I guess Tom Hanks is the captain now for Greengrass, who also helmed the Bourne franchise. While not groundbreaking like Bourne or hyper intense like Phillips, Greengrass gives News of the World a steady hand to deliver the story. Sweeping tracking shots (sadly that I could not see in the theater) give the audience the size of the journey in front of the unlikely pair. Most of the tension here comes from the threats of violence, as Captain Kidd and Johanna travel from tiny town to tiny town and are almost always met with hostility. Working around Hanks’s limited physical gifts, Greengrass crafts one pretty good shootout (it is a Western, after all), and throws in other common Western perils like dust storms, wagon troubles, or water shortages. While slight by his career of inspired action, Greengrass gives us enough pieces of Western moviemaking while he crafts the story the movie is really trying to tell.
In a world today where getting information about the world is easier then ever, News of the World is a reminder of how not so long ago the world was 100% the opposite. Many of the towns Captain Kidd visits are so remote and people are so busy that no one has time to do anything during the day, so when someone like Kidd comes by with stories from somewhere else, he is an immediate source of entertainment, very much unlike today’s news landscape. However, the movie posits that perhaps there are more similarities than there are differences to those times. Disinformation from the powerful who desire to stifle thought? That was as common in radical counties in 1870 as it is today (this one is a little too on the nose with its message, saved by a wonderful Hanks monologue). News of the World also believes that a healthy dose of perspective is a good thing in the end for people; by challenging your pre-conceived notions of the world around you, you can test your ideas/lifestyle to see if it’s truly what you believe it to be. Of course that’s difficult and people are going to resist, but a vast majority of the citizens of the world get excited when they hear of great tales, near and far. If story is truly great, no matter who you are, you’re probably going to want to listen. The concept of stortyelling doesn’t neatly fit into the relationship between Captain Kidd and Johanna, the emotional driver of the film. Indirectly, it works because their story feels like we are witnessing one of those stories that will help our own perspective and how important empathy and understanding and Tom Hanks are.
Nothing about News of the World is Earth-shattering. But just listening to Tom Hanks telling us stories, it simply is a salve in dark times, reminding everyone how important it is to look for great stories outside our own little bubbles. I’m sensing some sort of corporate synergy will come of this: expect several “Tom Hanks reads the news” segments from CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC in the near future.