I’ve watched Bombshell staring Nicole Kidman, An Un recognisable Charlise Theron as Fox News presenter and anchor Megyn Kelly and Margo Robbie as new comer and fictional character, three times in total now and after my latest watch wanted to write about the film that tells the “based on a” true story of the fall of Roger Aires head of Fox News in July 2016, the most watched and most powerful and financially independent cable news channel in history, owned by Rupert Murdoch.
The film Bombshell released in 2019 is a complex storyline, why I have watched it more than once, a starred studded cast and heavily based on a true story. It chronicles the real-life sexual harassment scandal that led to the downfall of Fox News CEO and Chairman Roger Ailes in 2016 played by John Lithgow.
The film blends fact and fiction to create the narrative, written by Charles Randolph and the director Jay Roach uses the real life events to tell a story of exploitation against of women in the wider media. The central figures in the are Gretchen Carlson (played by Nicole Kidman) and Megyn Kelly (played by Charlize Theron) are direct portrayals of the real journalists who publicly came forward with allegations against Ailes.
Roger Ailes (played by John Lithgow) is the actual Fox News head who resigned in July 2016 following a wave of harassment claims.
Margot Robbie's character, Kayla Pospisil, is entirely fictional. She was created as a composite character to represent the experiences of multiple young women who dealt with the toxic culture and harassment but chose to remain anonymous.
It’s a chilling watch for both sexes women and men and for anyone who has suffered harassment in the workplace, damned if you do and damned if you don’t. The film also raises questions about ambition and how perpetrators have got away with the harassment of women justifying the trade, their silence and “loyalty” for the success and status female anchors receive on a highly rated network like Fox News.
A friend of mine raised the very harsh question whilst watching if you make the deal at the time for promotion or career advancement knowing what is being asked of you is wrong can you later become the victim of a crime after you have benefitted from the trade off? Of course the means never justifies the end and men should not be using power to promote and elevate in this way but if all women said no, the power to harass does disappear.
The film does show how lonely it can be at the top and how speaking out does isolate you. It tackles the issue, even those brave enough to speak up against and stand up to corporate abusers they often stand alone. Margo Robbie’s character created to represent all the women who have suffered in silence, choosing job security and isolation, another fictional character lesbian democrat Jess Carr played by Kate McKinnon. Her character is a producer for Bill O'Reilly, also fired in 2016 who keeps her political and sexual identity a secret while navigating the toxic work environment at Fox News. Her situation and fear of being discovered exposed when Margot Robbie visits her apartment to find pictures of democratic presidential candidate Hilary Clinton in her kitchen.
Jess explains to Kayla she applied everywhere, only Fox offered her job and now she has experience at Fox no other networks will hire her. She is effectively trapped.
The scenes where Kayla experiences the harassment at the hands of Roger Ailes are chilling as a young, very beautiful and inexperienced journalist. Some of the women who corroborate Nicole Kidmans character’s accusations are as young as 16 when they are abused in the workplace.
The film is a political suspenseful biographical drama that shines a glaring light on the culture of high profile media positions for women and shows how tough you actually have to be as a female to swim with sharks especially on TV in the United States America.
I recommend watching this movie. like the Big Short, written by the same guy, in so many ways, top of the list you have to concentrate and will want to watch again. It’s really subtle, loads of clever, deep lines, a brilliant thought provoking script and very well done.