Set five years after the Civil War, Hanks plays Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a gray-haired veteran who now makes his living traveling from city to city, entertaining crowds reading and summarizing newspaper articles highlighting stories from around the world.
Recognizing that your audience doesn’t have the time or skill, think of them as one of the first news aggregators, selected from a rich narrative tradition. Kidd presents it as a way to “escape from our problems”, although the persistent division and psychic wounds of war – including his own – rot not far below the surface.
In the most glaring example, Kidd works in a camp where the business tycoon who presides over the place wants him to lie to the public in order to keep him more flexible. Think of “fake news”, but without the digital megaphone.
If that sounds a little uncomfortable as the USA is 150 years later, it is no accident. Greengrass (from “United 93” and the films of Jason Bourne, who previously directed Hanks in “Captain Phillips”) has a history of inserting social and political comments into his films.
Kidd is unprepared, however, when he encounters Johanna (Helena Zengel), a young orphaned immigrant who was raised by the Kiowa and speaks only their language. Efforts to enlist the army’s help in finding a home for her prove to be futile, and he takes it upon himself to take Johanna back to the surviving relatives, without knowing how she will be received.
Adapted from the novel by Paulette Jiles, their journey moves at an unhurried pace, along an almost lawless path in which they find kindness and cruelty – although the latter is in greater abundance, including those who would exploit the child for their own ends.
For fans of the genre, this old-fashioned feeling is a real treat. That said, the promotional campaign does not favor the film – especially for those who associate Greengrass with scenes of kinetic action – since, except for one or two sequences, those who expect the type of adrenaline that the ads suggest are subject to disappointment.
Overall, “News of the World” is a solid film, although not spectacular, featuring a family history against an interesting historical background. He simply does not offer the necessary escape from his problems to a contemporary audience that Kidd promises his crowds.
“News of the World” opens on December 25 in some cinemas. It is classified as PG-13.