The white supremacist fantasy to civilize the West is exactly the idea that shapes the narrative itself.
MORE THAN MOST WESTERNS, News of the World is about things that no longer are. Where most entries of the genre take a broader view of the West and its iconography, Paul Greengrass’ latest feature relishes the historical specificity of Texas in 1870. It’s a world drained by the exhaustion of the Civil War but also hopped up on the lawlessness of westward expansion. The United States is turning a page in its own history, and those who can’t keep up are sure to be left behind. The film’s focus is on the chaos of change, which is also, unfortunately, where it loses its way.
In Wichita Falls, we’re introduced to Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks), an ex-Confederate from San Antonio who makes his way by traveling town to town reading current events from newspapers to illiterate
