Bombshell (2019)

Bombshell – hiljaisuuden rikkojat / Bombshell – när tystnaden bryts.
    US ©  2019 Lucitic / Lionsgate. PC: Bron Creative / Annapurna Pictures / Denver + Delilah Productions / Gramsci / Lighthouse Management & Media / Creative Wealth Media. P: A. J. Dix, Aaron L. Gilbert, Robert Graf, Michelle Graham, Beth Kono, Charles Randolph, Margaret Riley, Jay Roach, Charlize Theron.
    D: Jay Roach. SC: Charles Randolph. DP: Barry Ackroyd – colour – 2,39:1 – source format: 2.8K – master format: 2K – release format: D-Cinema. PD: Mark Ricker. AD: Christopher Brown. Set dec: Ellen Brill. Cost: Colleen Atwood. Makeup: Vivian Baker. Hair: Anne Morgan. Prosthetic makeup design: Kazu Hiro. SFX: Brendon O'Dell. VFX: David D. Johnson. M: Theodore Shapiro. Song during end credits: "One Little Soldier" by and perf. by Regina Spektor. S: Renee Tondelli. ED: Jon Poll. Casting: Allison Jones.
    C: Charlize Theron (Megyn Kelly), Nicole Kidman (Gretchen Carlson), Margot Robbie (Kayla Pospisil), John Lithgow (Roger Ailes), Allison Janney (Susan Estrich), Malcolm McDowell (Rupert Murdoch), Kate McKinnon (Jess Carr).
    US premiere (wide): 20 Dec 2019.
    Finnish premiere: 7 Feb 2020 – released by Nordisk Film – Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Tarja Sahlsten / Nina Ekholm.
    DCP viewed at Kinopalatsi 4, Helsinki, 8 Feb 2020.

I had a super movie day today, seeing five films, all great, and Bombshell was the greatest. I usually take in extenso notes in screenings, but the speed and drive of Bombshell was so compelling that I had no time for notes.

It's a character driven movie, with the leading trio of Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie shining as Fox newscasters. Equally great are John Lithgow as Roger Ailes and Malcolm McDowell as Rupert Murdoch.

It's also a dialogue driven movie with a screenplay by Charles Randolph (The Big Short) as brilliant as the classic screwball scripts by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur for Howard Hawks.

The bombshell is related to the Me Too revolution. I have been convinced from the beginning that Me Too was ignited by Donald Trump, and this movie seems to confirm the hypothesis. (As we know, Roger Ailes became a Trump advisor after he had been fired from Fox News).

The implications are widespread. The tempo of the movie is so fast that there is no time to think. But we do hear that in employment interviews ladies are asked to service not only Roger Ailes but also others. And that there is a back door through which ladies enter discreetly into service, via the make-up room.

We have been aware of the harem system in the old days before the 1960s, but the revelation of the Weinstein affair was that it is alive and well even in our times. It's a tragic and disturbing revelation of a system of corruption that affects everybody. Women are in the frontline, but men (those who are not predators) also suffer from collateral damage.

“If you want to tell people the truth, you’d better make them laugh or they’ll kill you”. This bon mot I first discovered in Herman G. Weinberg's book The Lubitsch Touch, where it was attributed to Mark Twain. Also Oscar Wilde and G. B. Shaw have been mentioned as potential sources, but nobody has been able to document them. Even Billy Wilder loved the quote.

Anyway that is the agenda and approach of Bombshell which attacks tragedy as comedy. The director is Jay Roach whose breakthrough achievement was the Austin Powers trilogy. The sexual politics of Austin Powers was dubious to put it mildly. But a reversal has taken place in Jay Roach's trajectory: his previous theatrical feature film was Trumbo, and also in Bombshell he gives us an account of harassed protagonists who defy the establishment.

Hawks, Lubitsch and Wilder were not perfect, either, in matters of sexual politics. But I can hear them laughing approvingly with the ladies who have had enough of harassment. I look forward to revisiting Bombshell.

SYNOPSIS FROM WIKIPEDIA:
SYNOPSIS FROM WIKIPEDIA:

Roger Ailes heads Fox News, the real-life cable television network. The film focuses on newscasters Megyn Kelly, Gretchen Carlson and composite character Kayla Pospisil. Kelly is one of the network's most popular newscasters and is to co-moderate the 2016 Republican debate. The day of the debate, sick and throwing up, she nevertheless questions Donald Trump on comments he has made about women. In retaliation, he tweets insults about her, and others follow suit. One paparazzo stalks Kelly's family outside her home to photograph her children, prompting Kelly's husband, Douglas, to kick the intruder out. Fox then hires a security detail for Kelly. Ailes fears someone poisoned her the day of the debate.

Carlson is removed as co-anchor of the popular Fox and Friends and is transferred to a less popular show. Inundated by sexist comments on and off the air, she meets with lawyers who tell her how Rudi Bakhtiar was fired after refusing Ailes's sexual advances. They plan to file a harassment suit against Ailes but tell Carlson she'll need evidence and testimony from other women.

Pospisil is Fox's newest hire, working with Carlson, but soon accepts a job on The O'Reilly Factor. Bill O'Reilly fires her that first day, and she gets drunk and sleeps with fellow staffer Jess Carr. When they wake up, Pospisil says she is not a lesbian and is shocked to see Carr's Hillary Clinton poster. Asked why a liberal lesbian would work for Fox, Carr says she applied for many jobs, but Fox was the network who hired her, and now no one else will. Pospisil later is invited to Ailes' office, where he makes her lift her skirt to show him her underwear. She tells Carr, who says she cannot get involved.

Carlson reveals on air that she supports the assault weapons ban, prompting Ailes to summon her. She is fired and not given a clear reason why. She decides to sue Ailes. He meets with his wife, Beth, and attorneys Susan Estrich and Rudy Giuliani, denying the allegations. All female staffers are asked to stand with Fox. Most do, but Kelly does not comment.

When the suit is filed, no other women come forward, dashing Carlson's expectations. Viewers turn on her. Kelly finds other women, including Pospisil, who were sexually harassed by Ailes or O'Reilly.

Pospisil says she obeyed Ailes to protect her career but now wants to come forward. Kelly speaks up and learns that 22 other women will too. Estrich tells Ailes that Carlson has recorded conversations that will win the case. Ailes meets with Fox co-creator Rupert Murdoch, who tells him he will be fired. Ailes asks to break that news, but Murdoch refuses. When Murdoch says he is taking over Fox, Carr refuses to speak up. Pospisil, knowing she will be fired, quits instead.

Meanwhile, Carlson gets $20 million in damages and an apology from Fox but cannot speak about her case. She tells viewers that she does not care if they like her, only that they believe her.