The earplug scene is only one example of Good News deftly undercutting moments usually played for extreme drama in service of the film’s true focus: the harried, usually spineless middle management responses from multiple nations’ governments and agencies. This is where Good News takes the most historical liberties, fleshing out fictional characters and giving them agency in a story that is as much about the terrifying absurdities of the present political moment as it is about a decades-old plane hijacking.