Writer-director Paul Greengrass and star Tom Hanks have excellent track records for quality filmmaking, so it is really no surprise that their newest film, News of the World, is very good. No, the big surprise is in the form of Johanna, the young girl at the heart of the story. Helena Zengel, a German actress, is outstanding in the role, and is a lock to receive a Best Supporting Actress nomination for this year’s Academy Awards.

Paul Greengrass’ film follows Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks) across the south in 1870, five years after the Civil War, as he makes a rather pitiful living reading selected news items to hardworking people who don’t have time to read. He comes across a young blonde girl (Helena Zengel) who only speaks Kiowa but was being delivered to her white relatives when her escort was lynched. Kidd takes her to the next town, but ultimately decides to help her get all the way home. Being the wild and woolly West, it will take a miracle to get her there safely.

This seems to me to be an ultra-realistic view of Texas as it really was at that time, with primitive conditions, few luxuries, no lawmen around but for a Union army presence and dangerous people all over. Into this realm rides Kidd, an erudite and brave man of principle, but hardly one of action. The film hinges on his relationship with Johanna, who cannot understand Kidd’s words yet learns to trust his guidance. That this occurs so delicately is due to Hanks, who performs with his usual excellence, and Zengel, who displays heartbreaking reluctance and resignation to Johanna’s lot in life.

The story bogs down a couple of times where Kidd is overwhelmed by the task he has set himself and interdiction by others is necessary, but mostly News of the World is right on target with its message that helping someone other than oneself can bring healing to oneself as well as help for that other person. It is a lesson well learned for Captain Kidd, and one especially reflective for our own times as well. ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2. 1 January 2021.