Posted on 09/02/2007 6:14:09 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
Brian De Palma wants to stop the war, and he thinks his new movie about an Iraqi girl's rape can help, regardless of the consequences or the rights and privacy of Iraqis. In a Friday August 31 Reuters article, De Palma asserted “The movie is an attempt to bring the reality of what is happening in Iraq to the American people. Sky News online picked up the thread that he hoped his film "Redacted" will alert people about “these horrible things things that are happening, this horrible war that I am financing as an American citizen.”
De Palma's comments were made Friday, at the Venice Film Festival, after showing the movie that is supposedly based on the rape of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl from Mahmudiya who was then killed and her house set on fire. You know, every day stuff in the military.
“Redacted” is a do-over for De Palma, who made the same movie back in 1989 when it was called “Casualties of War” and starred Michael J. Fox. This is De Palma's second try at the “American military rapes indigenous girl and everyone laughs, but the sensitive guy feels sorry and tells; someone has nightmares, and the military is still bad” storyline. At least it wasn't “The Bonfire of the Vanities 2.”
Reuters noted De Palma's belief that if only people could see the real war photos and hear the real stories that aren't censored by the “corporate establishment,” people would simply turn against the war, thus ending it. No thought to Al Qaeda in Iraq and the insurgents or even Iran—apparently it will all just “stop” (emphasis mine throughout):
The pictures are what will stop the war, and if we can get these pictures in front of a mass audience, and get these stories in front of a mass audience, maybe we'll have some effect.
Reuters laid out a series of statements that showed how stupid and ill-informed he thinks Americans who support the war are by claiming they don't know the “truth” and just need his help to understand:
“It's all out there on the Internet, you can find it if you look for it, but it's not in the major media. The media is now really part of the corporate establishment," he said.
Right, everything on the Internet is true, in fact, there's a Nigerian prince who needs my help right now.
De Palma claimed that the mainstream media are not telling the whole story by withholding graphic images and in the process divulged his storyline isn't as “real” as he claimed:
"When I went out to find the pictures, I said (to the media) give me the pictures you can't publish," he said, adding that because of legal dangers he too had to "edit" the material.
"Everything that is in the movie is based on something I found that actually happened. But once I had put it in the script I would get a note from a lawyer saying you can't use that because it's real and we may get sued," De Palma said.
"So I was forced to fictionalize things that were actually real."
The media ignored this telling statement that he “fictionalized” the “things that were actually real” in a movie that is supposed to be the “reality” of what's going on in Iraq What does that leave?
Also, lawyers tend to worry more about being sued for libel and slander than factual events. They worry about Hollywood movies making claims that are not true. The truth is a defense against lawsuits, but random Internet rantings and the Jesse MacBeths and the Scott Beauchamps of the world make lawyers sweat.
Now De Palma showed that he is an Ugly American who doesn't care about the rights and privacy of people in a foreign country and the law:
The film, shot in Jordan with a little known cast, ends with a series of photographs of Iraqi civilians killed and their faces blacked out for legal reasons.
"I think that's terrible because now we have not even given the dignity of faces to this suffering people," De Palma said.
Because nothing says dignity like a Brian De Palma movie.
LOL..who IS that guy in the graphic? One of the actors?
"The pictures are what will stop the war, and if we can get these pictures in front of a mass audience, and get these stories in front of a mass audience, maybe we'll have some effect.""It's all out there on the Internet, you can find it if you look for it, but it's not in the major media. The media is now really part of the corporate establishment," he said.
"When I went out to find the pictures, I said (to the media) give me the pictures you can't publish," he said, adding that because of legal dangers he too had to "edit" the material.
"Everything that is in the movie is based on something I found that actually happened. But once I had put it in the script I would get a note from a lawyer saying you can't use that because it's real and we may get sued," De Palma said.
"So I was forced to fictionalize things that were actually real."
Shades of William Randolph Hearst:
"You provide the pictures and I'll provide the war."
Yellow journalism is a pejorative reference to journalism that features scandal-mongering, sensationalism, jingoism or other unethical or unprofessional practices by news media organizations or journalists. It has been loosely defined as "not quite libel".
Or to put it another way, Zogbyism, Enemedia At Work. Goebbels would be proud.
Meanwhile I'll point out that this is not the first time the media has tried this during this war:
Abuse photos 'were staged in UK'
The photographs appeared to show soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment urinating on a prisoner and striking him with a rifle.Except the soldier who posed for the photos was located and the equipment (including the truck) were not deployed.
MIRROR BOSS QUITS POST(Admits photos are fake - "victim of a calculated malicious hoax")
Col. David Black, a former commanding officer of the QLR, said: "(They are) almost a recruiting poster for al Qaeda and every other terrorist organisation."They did not call for the resignation of the Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan, but said the board of governors and shareholders should put pressure on the paper to cooperate fully with an ongoing inquiry.
Brig Geoff Sheldon said: "It's time that the ego of one editor is measured against the life of the soldier.
[snip]
He added: "These photographs have done enormous damage to the country and Army. The danger of the loss of life has been exacerbated.
"It is not a parlour game."
They said the photographs had served as a "red herring" for any legitimate allegations of torture.
Soldier arrested over Mirror hoax photos
At least one soldier has been arrested over fake pictures showing alleged mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by British troops, the defence ministry says.The photos were published in the Daily Mirror just days after similar ones were published in the United States showing U.S. soldiers abusing prisoners, shocking the world and causing widespread anger in the Arab world.
Charge the fit-up fakers with treason (re: Daily Mirror's fake UK Iraqi POW photos)
So now we’re told that it doesn’t matter whether or not the Iraqi torture pictures are fakes.What’s important is that British soldiers are mistreating prisoners.
And if the phoney photos have drawn attention to this greater evil, then so well and good.
Yeah, right.
[snip]
We’re getting the steady drip, drip, drip of more photos, more allegations — even though the latest batch appear to feature the same dopey female soldier as the original bunch.
These images will be replayed time and time again. {We’re getting the steady drip, drip, drip of more photos, more allegations — even though the latest batch appear to feature the same dopey female soldier as the original bunch.
I also can’t help wondering if ever again it will be possible to win a war in an age of “human rights” and a hostile media.
Who needs al-Jazeera when you’ve got the Guardian and the BBC?
In the Second World War we were only up against Lord Haw Haw and the might of Nazi Germany.
Study: Hizbullah won propaganda war
LA Times Publishes Iran Propaganda Claim, Ignores Fauxtography (MSM busted AGAIN)
L.A. Times Photographer Fired Over Altered Image
Bogus GI rape photos used as Arab propaganda
Cuba publishes bogus GI rape photos
Porn site depicting 'GI rapes' shut down
Porn princess speaks out on 'rape' photo flap
Those fake rape photos: Boston Globe attempts cover-up of fake rape pix (Boston Globe ran the photos as FACT after they'd already been denounced by the State Dept. and revealed as a hoax around the world)
The first Photoshop war [doctored photos could be harbinger of crisis]
A photo will no longer be worth a thousand wordsWe're not only talking about a fundamental ethical problem that is only of interest to professionals. In the short run, the doctored photos may serve to dramatize Lebanese suffering and display the destruction sowed by Israel in Lebanon as greater in scope than it really is.
Yet over time, the weak party to the war will pay the price for the forgery, after human sensitivity to its pain will be dulled. This is tragic because the Lebanese people did suffer in the last war and many experienced genuine, non-doctored bereavement and destruction.
In the future, even when genuine photos from wars will be distributed, it's likely that the other side will plant changes in them and redistribute them in order to undermine their credibility and make audiences doubt them, as part of a propaganda war.
Once those insights are internalized, and the general public knows that it can no longer believe what it sees, a photo will no longer be worth a thousand words – it won't even be worth one word.
The missing pictures from the Arab world
Torture Existed Before Abu Gharib, But Why No Coverage?[snip]
But there are other people in the region who see the crisis through a different lens. In Beirut, amazement was mostly about George W. Bush addressing Arab TV. Lebanese were certainly disgusted by the aired images but they were stunned by the fact that a U.S. President was "talking" to Arab citizens. The region is infested with worse ugliness than the prison scandal, yet no one can remember any Arab leader addressing his people about abuse.
"Our dictators never showed up on any media, at anytime, for any picture" said many Syrians, "despite 28 years of horrors in their detention centers." Thousands of citizens were tortured in al Mazza, the Syrian equivalent of Abu Ghraib, yet no one lifted a finger. Many in the region have their own horror pictures, but who will publish them as long as no Americans were involved?
From Iraq, other voices blasted the media: "What was happening in the same cells of Abu Ghraib under the Baath defies human logic. The awful photos of today would be only appetizers," said Saddam's survivors. "We have pictures, we have documents, but that won't please your elites."
The News We (CNN) Kept To Ourselves [must read]
CNN covered up news of torture and abuse under Saddam so that they could maintain their Baghdad Bureau. Human rights mean nothing to them. It is all about power and access.
I spit in the eye of the treasonous media and how dare this useful idiot claim that the media is somehow "supressing" bad news? The only 'bad news' is that the media's propaganda is being exposed on the internet as a bunch of damned lies designed to provide aid and comfort to the enemy in a time of war.
Screw you, De Palma.
Say it aint so.
One of the most offensive things about these Hollywood lefties is that they pretend to be courageous rebels, confronting an oppressive establishment. Yet, when a political movie comes out, you can almost bet the house that it’s gonna be left-wing. They churn ‘em out like clockwork. They aren’t arrested. They aren’t investigated. They aren’t intimidated. The big establishment media companies (the ones de Palma claims to challenging) finance and release their films.
They then parade their garbage at the nearest big time film festival, where people who flew in on private lear jets and rode in in stretch limousines applaud their work over champaign and caviar. They receive an award, and in their acceptance speech assert that we live in “scary times” in which one never knows when the evil U.S. government is going to kick down the door in a midnight raid. Why, de Palma, or the clowns who produced V FOR VENDETTA, or George Clooney, could end up under house arrest any day now. Better go see their films right now, because next week all copies could be confiscated and burned.
Of course, the arrests never happen, but in a couple of weeks another film with anti-American, pro-Marxist sentiments will be released, and the people behind it will follow the same routine of congratulating themselves for their rebelliousness and courage.
I wonder if de Palma has ever heard of Tian Zhuangzhuang? He’s an amazingly talented Chinese filmmaker. In 1993 he released a film called THE BLUE KITE, which depicted some of the brutality of the Mao years. When the Chinese authorities heard about the nature of his film, they threatened to stop production on it. Copies of the work that had been completed had to be smuggled out of the country for post-production. Tian ended up under house arrest and he wasn’t allowed to make another film for seven years, and even then it was under constant government surveillance to make sure he didn’t put any anti-Communist ideas into his work.
In the mid-1960’s, the great Russian director Tarkovsky completed work on ANDREI RUBLEV, an epic (though enigmatic) film about the life of the great Russian icon painter. The Soviets decided the film was too Christian, and promptly banned it. The world only saw the film in 1971 when a smuggled copy managed to be brought out from behind the iron curtain.
I own both of these films in my DVD collection. They’re not only great films, but tributes to true political courage, which is something de Palma wouldn’t understand. He’s too busy trotting out films designed to earn him honors from the very establishment he hypocritically claims to be challenging. Funny how celebrities who claim to be non-conformist all non-conform in the same way.
Not THAT Cubes!Say it aint so.
This is not Mr. De Palma’s decision to make.
'Red' Asner (on a role he would like to portray): "I think Joe Stalin was a guy that was hugely misunderstood... And to this day, I don't think I have ever seen an adequate job done of telling the story of Joe Stalin, so I guess my answer would have to be Joe Stalin."
Is this ignorant asshQle as stupid as he looks?
There are a tremendous number of people who will not understand that this is fiction.
But-just like the Mike " Two-Dinners" Moore movies , Al Frankin trash and all others- The TRUTH that is Uncovered about their lies and "Editing" comes WAY TOO LATE for the American Viewers to See or understand FIRST before viewing!
And remember, ADD THIS MOVIE & all Possible Parts of it to the List of :
" LIST of ISSUES Everyone should be Knowledgeable about BEFORE the Sept 15th D.C. rally-cause you all know there will be POSTERS, BANNERS and Liberal Reporters Asking questions to US about this & other " News" Movies!!
The More Knowledgeable we are-and better prepared to answer Point for Point to any Libs-Reporters, news cameras-the better WE WILL LOOK and be portrayed! So instead of being caught off guard, and Stumbling, or answering, "..er..er..I am not really familiar with all the facts of that movie.."-which would be played OVER AND OVER again by the Media to make us look like we are merely disregarding BAD news and only promoting GOOD news for our own AGENDA!--we at least get a small chance (like lib-media Reporters would Edit IN anything that makes an ambushed Conservative questionnaire look GOOD! and Up-to-date/knowledgeable!) we can come out looking like we are NOT simply Defending a WRONG instance if it did happen- but making the public THINK about the SOURCE & THE Hollywood liberals and Their AGENDA!!
Where the Hell are the CONSERVATIVE Millionaires helping out the Conservative cause??!!
It is fiction in lieu of fact. It is all the same to Mr. De Palma.
Watch for Roger Ebert to stand up for him as he did Spike Lee and Oliver Stone to say that you should not expect a history lesson when watching a biopic and basically that it is your own fault if you fall for the lies of a filmmaker.
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