News of the World

News of the World – Civil War veteran, Captain Kidd, earns a living by travelling from town to town and reading out the news for anyone willing to pay. When he comes across a traumatised young girl who is unable to speak English, he sets about taking her to someone who can raise her. Discovering the truth of her terrible past and realising she no longer has a home, he decides to take her to relatives who live far away but as the trials they face during the journey bond them together, is it best to leave her with unprepared strangers?  

News of the World (2020) – Director: Paul Greengrass

Rating: 12A

Running Length: 118 mins

Starring: Tom Hanks, Helena Zengel, Ray McKinnon

Genre: Western

REVIEW: ‘NEWS OF THE WORLD’

Reliable as ever, Tom Hanks is the star of Netflix’s ‘News of the World’, based on the novel of the same name by Paulette Jiles. Playing stoic civil war veteran, Captain Kidd, Hanks exudes his familiar world weariness that has started to become somewhat predictable in recent years. The story therefore needs to stand out if it is to be considered among Hanks’ best work and fortunately, mainly owing to young star, Helena Zengel, ‘News of the World’ hits plenty of excellent beats to push it out of any hum drum melodrama.

The story centres on Kidd who schleps from town to town reading newspapers to anyone who will pay to listen but while travelling he comes across a traumatised little girl who needs a home. Her birth family are dead; killed by a native tribe who then raised her as one of their own. She has no-one left and, unable to speak English, Kidd doesn’t have a quick fix. Burdened with a sense of duty, he sets off to find her next of kin – an Aunt and Uncle she has never met.

Despite being ill prepared for the violence he meets along the way, Kidd’s war-time experience helps him as he each step of the journey throws up nefarious types who would do himself and Johanna harm. Kidd is kind and patient with the girl as she struggles to adapt to a new way of life. Zengel, as young Helena, does a fantastic job of portraying a child struggling to cope in the brutal world she has be born into while never coming across as brattish which makes it easy to warm to her.

A good Western will show the beautiful vastness of of the American landscape and ‘News of the World’ does this well, giving the viewer an idea of the scale of the journey the characters take without relying on it to bulk out the screen time. This is a movie that takes us along for the ride so that we can love every moment of it.

CONTENT: IS ‘NEWS OF THE WORLD’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

Captain Kidd is shown to have an old, healed bullet wound on his back.

Kidd comes across a wagon that has been attacked. It is overturned and there are bloody footprints on the ground. Kidd follows them and finds a black man hung in a nearby tree who appears to have been lynched. The body is mostly hidden behind trees and their face is never shown so this isn’t graphic but it is made clear that this was a racially motivated killing.

Kidd visits a friend who is able to help a lot with the girl, Johanna. They have clearly known each other for a long time. They spend the night together and it is implied that they have been intimate, However nothing graphic is shown.

When walking through a town at night, 3 men approach Kidd and Johanna and offer him money for her, strongly implying that they intend to assault and possibly prostitute her. The pair escape them but are soon followed by the men who do not intend to leave them alone without taking Johanna with them. This scene is very tense but exciting.

Kidd and Johanna travel through a camp where dozens of buffalo are being killed. There are brief glances of skinned buffalo lying all along the ground they go through and some groans from the buffalo can be heard. While the imagery is quite gory, no actual suffering of the animals is shown on screen. The hides of the animals are seen being stirred in a large trough filled with bloody water.

Kidd is threatened and told to read a newspaper that has drawn images of native Americans being scalped.

The pair find an old, abandoned house. There are blood spatters on the walls and is clear people were violently killed there.

The horses pulling Kidd and Johanna’s cart go out of control and they manage to jump off just before it goes over a cliff. Afterwards, one horse is seen dead and the other whinnies in distress. Kidd shoots it dead as a kindness.

A character visits the grave of a loved one, this scene is quite sad.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘NEWS OF THE WORLD’ FOR KIDS?

An excellent Tom Hanks Western, ‘News of the World’ is an enjoyable watch from start to finish. Although there is little violence, the realistic aftermath is shown several times and therefore we recommend this movie for ages 11 and over.

• Violence: 2/5
• Emotional Distress: 2/5 (Johanna speaks very little but it is clear that she is distressed by the things she has witnessed)
• Fear Factor: 3/5 (some tense and exciting moments throughout)
• Sexual Content: 1/5
• Bad Language: 2/5 (infrequent moderate cursing)
• Dialogue: 2/5
• Other Notes: Deals with themes of witnessing violence, racism, trauma, communication, friendship, family and protecting a child in need.

Words by Laura Record