BOMBSHELL

Fox News will never be the same again

REVIEWED BYAshwini Vethakan

When the #MeToo movement took off, it was because a few women – who until that point had kept their abusive experiences to themselves – decided to speak up. From the ‘King of Hollywood’ Harvey Weinstein to the Chairman and CEO of Fox News Roger Ailes, some of the most powerful men in America were taken down a notch (or 20) when women who had been abused by them spoke up and exposed some extremely dirty laundry.

Bombshell is based on the 2015 Fox News scandal, which takes viewers through a play by play look into the crash and burn of Fox’s infamous leader Roger Ailes.

Director Jay Roach should be applauded for his fine casting choices as well as for embellishing a scandal just enough to make it worthy of drama on the big screen.

The story revolves around the experiences of three women: Fox anchors Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron) and Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman), and a fic­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­tional character Kayla Pospisil played by Margot Robbie. Ailes is portrayed by John Lithgow.

CHILLING IN SELF-ISOLATION

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• Marriage Story
• The Irishman
• Dolemite is My Name
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Power and sex are two strong themes that go hand in hand and show us how real sexual harassment in the workplace is – with Ailes’ deeds as a serial sexual harasser ultimately resulting in his shameful demise.

Being the CEO of such a large network puts Ailes on a proverbial pedestal; he feels he could do no wrong, hires whomever he wants and in the same way, fires them too.

Imagine a young woman coming out to the city with hopes of becoming the next TV news presenter, only to have an elderly man tell her the job is hers if she can do him “a small favour in return.”

The film had me on the edge of my seat and at ti­mes wanting to throw a physical object at Ailes – such is the amazing performance by Lithgow.

Those mere moments of panic – when you watch Robbie contemplate lifting up her skirt high enough simply to get the role of a prime time reporter, the way your skin begins to crawl when you watch Ailes proposition Kidman, or even how your heart ached for a distraught Theron when she argues with her husband over what she needs to do to pay the bills – tell you how good a script the movie carries.

It shows us how some people cleverly misuse their powers and how more often than not, it’s a woman who is made to ‘earn her place’ at the top of large organisations in the crudest ways possible. This doesn’t mean that all organisations work the same way, of course.

The film’s subject matter is absorbing and succeeds as an inspirational portrayal of the elimination of a toxic work environment. Of course, its ending was rather disappointing.

One would hope to see a crippled Ailes being taken down by the system but instead – in true Fox fashion – the closing credits inform us that the women were all paid off.

This left me with a burning question: ‘Where is the justice?’ I don’t know if Fox had a hand in the movie; but I know for a fact that when you watch the movie with all its hype, the cliffhanger ending really dampens the film.

And in all honesty, it sends the wrong message – that you can do whatever you want, and pay your way out of trouble.