Bombshell (2020 in Spain)

Elevator Pitch: Roger Ailes, the CEO of Fox News, generally known for its right wing message, was a serial sexual abuser, well known for saying “to get ahead you gotta give some head”. But he was getting away with it until sued by news anchor Gretchen Carlson after he had consistently verbally abused her and demoted her from her prime progamme. Over time she is joined by others although the condemnation of the sexual abusers is not universal. The Fox commentator Megyn Kelly although motivated to join is talked out of it by her husband, and new reporter Kayla Pospisil suffers from the sexual advances of Ailes and another executive.

Content: Kayla is required by Ailes to lift her dress and is visibly excited by the sight of her underwear, and we follow her story as she gives in to him. However, although sex is talked about there is nothing overt in the movie. We see Megyn Kelly interrogating Trump, arguing with her husband and observing what is going on in the Fox office. She is also our guide to the structure of the Fox organisation. Gretchen Carlson meets with her lawyers a number of times  and we see her being abused verbally by Ailes. Gradually over time Ailes is brought to book, and we see Rupert Murdoch taking charge.

A View: Honestly, this was an odd film. The central character ,Kayla was not a real person but a “composite”. Charlize Theron is terrific but seems to be in a slightly different movie, maybe “Imperator Furiosa” in the office, and once we see Donald Trump on screen we wonder which way it is all going. Apparently a great deal of effort was put in to get John Lithgow and the ladies to really look like the actual Fox people, an effort that would be lost on non Americans. I really enjoy seeing horrible people being taken down, but it would not be everybody’s cup of tea.

Additional Info: Ailes died in 2017. Fox had let him go with a massive compensation payment, and has paid a lot of money to women who accused senior Fox execs of sexual harrassment.