![]() ![]() In another era - back when the Western genre was a vessel for all sorts of myths about white settlement and civilization - the film might have been about the return of a lost, wild soul to the comforts of an imagined community. Based on Paulette Jiles’s 2016’s excellent novel, News of the World follows Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks), a former captain in the Confederate army, as he attempts to transport Johanna (Helena Zengel), a 10-year-old German girl raised by the Kiowa, back to what remains of her family. News of the World might be set in post-Civil War Texas, but it opens with mention of a meningitis outbreak and ends with mention of a cholera outbreak - a subtle (or maybe not-so-subtle) reminder from director Paul Greengrass that even when he makes movies set at a fixed point in the past they’re ultimately about the way things are now. We are republishing the piece on the occasion of the film’s release on demand. This review originally ran in December 2020. ![]() ![]() Helena Zengel and Tom Hanks in News of the World. ![]()
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