The American presidential elections years are good opportunities for political films. Documentaries or fiction films released in these years have addressed different aspects of the political system, and the American and international audiences have extended their attention already alerted by the election campaigns that extend over the full year prior to the election to the related movies on the screens. It is still too early to say whether 2020 will bring more significant films in this category, but I believe I can point out that ‘Bombshell‘ written by Charles Randolph and directed by Jay Roach, released on screen in December 2019, is one of the first of its kind this season. It could be objected that the film is not about politicians but about TV studios, but I think that the objection can be dismissed from start. Televisions have become an active participant in political games in the United States and other parts of the world – particularly news and commentary TV channels that broadcast 24 hours a day of politics such as Fox News. The story in ‘Bombshell‘ is happening in the summer of 2016 and the American presidential election campaign that resulted in the election of Donald Trump as president is always in the background. But the main topic is the sexual harassment scandals that have been in the forefront of public attention since 2016 until today. The fall of Fox News’ all-powerful programs director, Roger Ailes, was the first heavily publicized case of what would become the #MeToo movement starting with the spring of 2017.
The script is trying to reconstruct as realistically and truthfully as possible the atmosphere and activities of the Fox News network in June and July 2016. Three characters, three women who all work at Fox, two of them real characters and well-known names for television fans (Megin Kelly played by Charlize Theron and Gretchen Carlson played by Nicole Kidman) and the third imaginary character (young reporter Kayla Pospisil – Margot Robbie) face the sexual advances of the all-powerful studio chief executive Roger Ailes (played by John Lithgow) within the sexist atmosphere and the corporate privacy rules that were protecting the powerful. Fox News did not invent news television as entertainment, but under Ailes’s leadership, it had created a combination of conservative policy and use of attractive female presenters and journalists to increase audience and ratings. The mantra “television is a visual media” was hiding a sexist attitude and criteria for promoting those who received time on the network screens. When Carlson, fallen into disgrace and fired, decides to publicly disclose what is happening behind the scenes, the entire corporation puts in march its machinery to protect the business. The script follows the weeks in which Ailes’ female victims gather their moral forces to overcome the personal traumas and the possible consequences for their careers, and publicly disclose, what happened to each one of them, joining the collective action.
Can films like ‘Bombshell‘ be judged and appreciated outside their political contexts? It ain’t easy. This film is a mosaic of political fiction inspired by real events, mixing real and imaginary characters and the personal drama of women who want to build a career in television journalism and who are facing sexual harassment in a corporate atmosphere dominated by sexism, led and controlled by men. It is an American story of the 21st century, in which the lone heroes (women in this case) fight for justice, but their chances of success are real only if they join forces and collaborate with each other to win the battle with the system and to reveal the truth. Director Jay Roach who has directed several successful comedies over the last few decades (the ‘Austin Powers’ series or family comedies like ‘Meet the Fockers’) completely abandons the tools of humor for an alert docu-drama style that exactly mimics the style of the shows in the TV studios where the action takes place. The result is interesting to those who know Kelly, Carslon or O’Reilly, but I don’t think it’s always clear to those who are unfamiliar with Fox News and its anchors. The imaginary characters and the individual dramas of the women are the ones that captivated me, and the scene that confronts Margot Robbie‘s Kayla Pospisil with John Lithgow ‘s Roger Ailes was terrifying to me. Each of the women gets to enlist on her way and for her reasons in the fight with the system. ‘Bombshell‘ masterfully uses makeup, and brings in two beautiful actresses, with well-known profiles, who have already played in other films roles in which they have been maked-up to the limits of not being recognized. Of the two of them I think Charlize Theron is the one who manages a great creation, melting into the role of Megin Kelly. Nicole Kidman‘s Carlson seemed to me a little stiff. The performance of John Lithgow, an actor I love and appreciate very much – also helped by a very successful makeup – was amazing. I will not skip mentioning the excellent Malcolm McDowell in the small but important role of Rupert Murdoch. ‘Bombshell‘ has its ups and downs, it is a film that addresses a painful topic and I believe others will follow in its footsteps. Finally, it is a film that will leave few people indifferent, same as the Fox News programs.