Film - News of the World

A western, News of the World refers to the occupation of Captain Jefferson Kidd. (Tom Hanks is the Captain now) I’m equally puzzled as the character in the film who wonders how reading newspaper stories is a job but that is what the former printer does now that the civil war has ended.

While travelling to his next gig, with a bunch of newspapers in his bag, he comes across a frightened child who speaks no English. It turns she was taken in by Kiowa people and raised as their own. Johanna, who’s blonde hair indicates she has European origins carries a note detailing the whereabouts of the only living relatives and the Captain sets about returning her to her birth family.

We see the Captain immediately felt fatherly to this lost little girl. Devastated by her tragic story, he decides that she needs new memories despite her resistance to go with him, hindered further by the language barrier. News of the World tells, is about their relationship through which we also learn about Captain Kidd’s backstory.

I’m struck by how Jefferson Kidd always introduces himself as Captain, never his name which seems to give him credibility with most folk. Bringing the story right up to date, News of the World is a study of people who only read the newspapers and assume - which they should be able to do - that they do in fact, contain news. I long for those days.

7/10