News of the World

News of the World (2020) is set in Texas in 1870. A captain back from the civil war makes his living reading newspapers; he travels from town to town reading the news aloud, for a fee, to people who cannot read. On the road he finds a girl raised by the Kiowa who speaks German, and takes on the job of returning her to her relatives. The source is Paulette Jiles's novel. Paul Greengrass directed, his first western and a clear change of direction for a filmmaker known for the Bourne films and United 93. Tom Hanks plays the captain and Helena Zengel the girl. Zengel is a German child actor and most of her dialogue is in German or Kiowa; she barely speaks English. The best idea in it is the job itself. Reading the news is a performance, a service and a means of manipulation all at once, and one scene shows that outright. It runs 118 minutes. Good for: classical western structure, road films, and Tom Hanks. Less good for: the story is predictable and follows the familiar shape of the genre. You learn almost nothing about the Kiowa; the girl's past is indicated rather than told.