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"BROADCAST NEWS" by James L Brooks remains one of the funniest films from the 80's

  • Writer: Daniel Nobre
    Daniel Nobre
  • Jun 18, 2020
  • 3 min read

Updated: Jun 3, 2021

With amazing cast at their best this film not only shows the insides of the newsroom but also in a funny (sometimes dramatic) ways shows their working place as dynamic and stressful as still it is today.


 

In 1987 I was just beginning an experience of working for a local newspaper in the city where I was born and I, at the age of 21, was hired to diagram the pages of that local newspaper.

What I always remember until today of that little adventure in journalism was not necessarily my job, but how exciting it was to be a part, even if indirectly, because I didn't have much experience with that media. The reporters were arriving at night with the news around 7 pm and debating with others the issues that will be on the next day's edition.

That same year the film "Broadcast News" directed by James L Brooks and with a cast of top actors came on the cinemas showing very effectively what happened behind the scenes of a TV network also about journalism. For my pleasure and somewhat differently, that world represented in the film became very familiar to me.

From the speed with which we had to work and make headlines for everyone involved to close that newspaper just before midnight and without delay with the utmost care with the content and quality of the information. Who knew that integrity today would be a thing of the past ... what a pity!

The film is more complete in the sense of being a very authentic and original comedy in the sense of the three main actors had a relationship between themselves and together quite abnormal and in this view at that moment when I found myself also seemed similar because I remember some small conversations (there was not much time for long conversation) in which the editor in chief complained about the problems he had with his wife who demanded more attention from him in married life and he always said he did not have time. Perhaps that is why in the film everyone at the beginning is solitary and very poorly solved with personal dramas that were reflected all the time and since high school that is shown at the beginning of the film when the actors are presented in young versions. The film even invites us to a reflection that as we get older we believe until today that the experience makes us better people but I don't think that is what the film shows us. More stubborn they have become.

The film also shows a very incoherent and even absurd love triangle but that is the most interesting part of the film's script. We have producer Jane (superb Holly Hunter) who is immensely strong and talented but who cries every morning before leaving for work her best friend Aaron (Albert Brooks in one of his memorable performances) and colleague who secretly sows a withdrawn and unrequited love simply because Jane does not imagine him as a kind of boyfriend and finely Tom (William Hurt one of the best actors of the 80s) athletic and handsome, very ambitious and unintelligent but who will not measure scruples to achieve the dream position of almost any reporter ... anchor of the evening newspaper and in the process Jane's heart.

Not to mention the supporting cast, this is equally sensational with a cameo Jack Nicholson. But it is the hilarious script (also by James L Brooks) that remains current, keeping the technology differences of our current world with the one that used to keep this film fresh and funny until today.

This film brings back great memories of a decade when there were social problems like today but there were also information professionals with a certain concept of not compromising their particular vision on the news and in the most impartial way possible, without deceiving or hiding the truth. and seek to promote a smarter public debate always in the sense of seeking solutions as a community and together achieving better results.

Even though we are simply human beings with the defects that Tom, Jane and Aaron had but they also just tried to be happier. Thanks for the memories for the drama and laughter.

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