D
Dr. Jai Maharaj
Guest
AMERICAN FILMS BRING IMPACT OF IRAQ WAR HOME
Forwarded article
American filmmakers hope to bring impact of Iraq war home
By Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer
September 19, 2007, sfgate
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/09/19/MNCJS8OV1.DTL
Without a military draft, few middle-class Americans have
been directly touched by the Iraq war, making the 4-year-
old conflict seem distant compared with the war in Vietnam.
But over the next few weeks, the war will land at the
multiplex, thanks to prominent feature films starring
Robert Redford, John Cusack, Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee
Jones -- and co-starring the war either in the background
or in your face.
It is unprecedented for so many Hollywood films to depict a
war in anything but flattering terms while the country is
still fighting it. Most major Vietnam War-related films
either came out after the war ended (such as 1978's "Coming
Home" and 1979's "Apocalypse Now") or expressed the
frustrations about Vietnam through the prism of another
war, like the 1970 film "MASH," which was set during the
Korean War.
Why now? Filmmakers feel many Americans are seeing a
sanitized, bloodless view of the war in the mainstream
media. Couple that with a general anti-President Bush vibe
in the liberal filmmaking capital, and producers and
analysts say Iraq movies have become relatively easy to
finance. While most major Hollywood productions can take
three years or longer from inspiration to curtain-raising,
many of this first wave of Iraq-related features were
pounded out in a year or less.
Shortly after Bush's re-election in 2004, and with no end
of the war in sight, filmmakers and screenwriters said they
felt an urgency to produce films in time for the
presidential campaign season - or at least as Congress
continues to debate the U.S. involvement in Iraq.
Matthew Michael Carnahan, screenwriter of "Lions for
Lambs," starring Redford and Streep, senses "that
Americans, on the whole, are ready to re-engage on this
issue. (In the film) we're going to pose the arguments on
both sides, as best we can, and then let the people decide.
"And if they can walk out of the theater and have a
conversation about what is going on, then that will make me
very happy," he said.
But these films face a test: Will Americans want to see a
movie about a war if they don't know how - or when - it
will end. A spate of documentaries on the Iraq war have
been released over the past few years, but none set the box
office afire. Commercial films don't have that luxury -
even the artiest, awards-driven Hollywood film has to make
the turnstiles spin.
"That will be the challenge," said Simone Urdl, a producer
of "Redacted," which opens later this fall in San
Francisco. Based on a true story, it is about the raping
and killing of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl by U.S. soldiers.
For Urdl and the film's director, Brian DePalma ("The
Untouchables," "Mission: Impossible"), the green light to
make the film came about a year ago as public opinion was
turning against the war. Raising money was not a problem,
as the film demanded only a $5 million budget, the cost of
one day of shooting by Hollywood standards. They wanted to
make the film quickly so people could see graphic images
from the war that they weren't seeing on the evening news.
"Brian is angry, he's upset about the war," Urdl said. "He
feels that the mainstream media has been co-opted by the
government. The (more graphic) images of much of the war
have been redacted before they get to the North American
audience."
Weeks before the fall premiere, FOX News commentator Bill
O'Reilly criticized "Redacted," saying "this vile man
(DePalma) and his vile film will have an effect, all right.
Imagine young Muslim men, already steeped in hatred,
sitting there watching a Muslim woman raped in living
color. If even one of those men enters the fight and kills
an American, it is on Brian DePalma."
Replied Urdl: "I just hope that when people comment on the
movie that they see it first."
Hollywood's changing attitude toward films about war and
terrorism can be seen through Carnahan's experience writing
"Lions for Lambs" and "The Kingdom," the latter of which
opens Sept. 28 in San Francisco. Based on an idea from the
film's director, Peter Berg, "The Kingdom" is about an FBI
counterterrorism team that goes to Saudi Arabia to
investigate an attack on U.S. civilians living there.
Carnahan started writing "The Kingdom" in the spring of
2003, right about the time the U.S. invaded Iraq. After the
script was finished in late 2005, when attitudes toward the
war were changing, he began writing "Lions and Lambs."
Over that time, he said, he experienced an epiphany. He was
tired of castigating the media for its "US Weekly, People
magazine soft features. I wanted to stop avoiding thinking
about what was going on (in Iraq) and do something about
it."
Out poured "Lions for Lambs," which juxtaposes several
conversations about the value of going to war.
"Plus, I wanted to explore more of what was being said in
the offices (in Washington, D.C.), than what was in 'The
Kingdom,' but that I couldn't get to in that film. Like a
lot of people by that time, I was wondering, 'What is going
on here?' "
By 2006, when he finished "Lion for Lambs," and had
convinced Streep to sign on as a lead, Hollywood's reading
of the national thermometer had changed.
"In 2003, when this thing (the war) looked like a cakewalk,
a lot of people at Universal were like, 'Oh, I don't know
about this.' But by the time that 'Lions and Lambs' was out
there (last year), there was no problem. It's like perfect
timing right now, where people are starting to publicly
question the war," Carnahan said.
Finding funding for the $30 million project was "painless,"
especially after Streep signed on, said Carnahan, who also
is a producer of the film. "Lions for Lambs" is scheduled
to open sometime in November in San Francisco. "There's a
lot of private money out there for people with these ideas
about the war," said David Poland, editor of Movie City
News ( www.moviecitynews.com), which monitors Hollywood's
doings. "People are so angry at Bush and so angry about the
war."
Indeed, finding money for "Grace is Gone" got a lot easier
once Cusack committed to it in early 2006, said producer
Celine Rattray. The five-month production schedule was
"quick, quick, quick," she said.
In the film, Cusack portrays a husband who is supportive of
the war and of his wife who goes off to fight it. But she
doesn't return. By focusing on Cusack's relationship with
his motherless children, the film portrays the war's impact
through a family's changing dynamic - a more digestible way
for an American audience to absorb it.
"People want to go to the movies to be entertained,"
Rattray said, who also produced the documentary "The Ground
Truth" last year, which many anti-war groups have screened
as fundraisers. " 'Grace is Gone' is a film you can enjoy
on an emotional level. It's not (the politically dense)
'Syriana.' "
Other narrative approaches in these films appeal to how
Americans are absorbing the war.
In "In the Valley of Elah," the war is depicted through the
eyes of a Vietnam vet, played by Jones, whose son has gone
AWOL or missing after returning home from Iraq. The Iraq
war is visualized through the son's video shot from the
front lines in Baghdad. Similarly, "Redacted" draws on
digital correspondence from soldiers, including blogs.
If these films do well at the box office, more are sure to
follow.
"There are a lot of scripts I've read out there - but
whether they get made or not remains to be seen," said
Melanie Backer, a production executive at Gartner, a Santa
Monica studio. "You have to be careful. If a film is
really, really political, I think people will stay away.
People want to see movies where people come together and
heal."
Hollywood analyst Poland also wondered how much discussion
of war audiences can tolerate, no matter how far in the
background it might be.
"The reality is that there's not going to be a large market
for any of these films," Poland said. "But the point is
that filmmakers are doing them. It's one of those odd
moments in Hollywood. It's not going to last."
With two movies set for release in the next few weeks,
writer-producer Carnahan wonders whether audiences will see
the war at the multiplex: "That's the $64,000 question. So
much of it is going to be word-of-mouth. A brother or a
friend telling you, 'You gotta see this.' "
E-mail Joe Garofoli at jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com.
End of forwarded article
Jai Maharaj
http://tinyurl.com/24fq83
http://www.mantra.com/jai
http://www.mantra.com/jyotish
Om Shanti
Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.hindunet.org
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational
purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not
have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for
fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current
e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are
not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of
which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed
that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by
subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information
go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of
your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner.
Forwarded article
American filmmakers hope to bring impact of Iraq war home
By Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer
September 19, 2007, sfgate
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/09/19/MNCJS8OV1.DTL
Without a military draft, few middle-class Americans have
been directly touched by the Iraq war, making the 4-year-
old conflict seem distant compared with the war in Vietnam.
But over the next few weeks, the war will land at the
multiplex, thanks to prominent feature films starring
Robert Redford, John Cusack, Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee
Jones -- and co-starring the war either in the background
or in your face.
It is unprecedented for so many Hollywood films to depict a
war in anything but flattering terms while the country is
still fighting it. Most major Vietnam War-related films
either came out after the war ended (such as 1978's "Coming
Home" and 1979's "Apocalypse Now") or expressed the
frustrations about Vietnam through the prism of another
war, like the 1970 film "MASH," which was set during the
Korean War.
Why now? Filmmakers feel many Americans are seeing a
sanitized, bloodless view of the war in the mainstream
media. Couple that with a general anti-President Bush vibe
in the liberal filmmaking capital, and producers and
analysts say Iraq movies have become relatively easy to
finance. While most major Hollywood productions can take
three years or longer from inspiration to curtain-raising,
many of this first wave of Iraq-related features were
pounded out in a year or less.
Shortly after Bush's re-election in 2004, and with no end
of the war in sight, filmmakers and screenwriters said they
felt an urgency to produce films in time for the
presidential campaign season - or at least as Congress
continues to debate the U.S. involvement in Iraq.
Matthew Michael Carnahan, screenwriter of "Lions for
Lambs," starring Redford and Streep, senses "that
Americans, on the whole, are ready to re-engage on this
issue. (In the film) we're going to pose the arguments on
both sides, as best we can, and then let the people decide.
"And if they can walk out of the theater and have a
conversation about what is going on, then that will make me
very happy," he said.
But these films face a test: Will Americans want to see a
movie about a war if they don't know how - or when - it
will end. A spate of documentaries on the Iraq war have
been released over the past few years, but none set the box
office afire. Commercial films don't have that luxury -
even the artiest, awards-driven Hollywood film has to make
the turnstiles spin.
"That will be the challenge," said Simone Urdl, a producer
of "Redacted," which opens later this fall in San
Francisco. Based on a true story, it is about the raping
and killing of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl by U.S. soldiers.
For Urdl and the film's director, Brian DePalma ("The
Untouchables," "Mission: Impossible"), the green light to
make the film came about a year ago as public opinion was
turning against the war. Raising money was not a problem,
as the film demanded only a $5 million budget, the cost of
one day of shooting by Hollywood standards. They wanted to
make the film quickly so people could see graphic images
from the war that they weren't seeing on the evening news.
"Brian is angry, he's upset about the war," Urdl said. "He
feels that the mainstream media has been co-opted by the
government. The (more graphic) images of much of the war
have been redacted before they get to the North American
audience."
Weeks before the fall premiere, FOX News commentator Bill
O'Reilly criticized "Redacted," saying "this vile man
(DePalma) and his vile film will have an effect, all right.
Imagine young Muslim men, already steeped in hatred,
sitting there watching a Muslim woman raped in living
color. If even one of those men enters the fight and kills
an American, it is on Brian DePalma."
Replied Urdl: "I just hope that when people comment on the
movie that they see it first."
Hollywood's changing attitude toward films about war and
terrorism can be seen through Carnahan's experience writing
"Lions for Lambs" and "The Kingdom," the latter of which
opens Sept. 28 in San Francisco. Based on an idea from the
film's director, Peter Berg, "The Kingdom" is about an FBI
counterterrorism team that goes to Saudi Arabia to
investigate an attack on U.S. civilians living there.
Carnahan started writing "The Kingdom" in the spring of
2003, right about the time the U.S. invaded Iraq. After the
script was finished in late 2005, when attitudes toward the
war were changing, he began writing "Lions and Lambs."
Over that time, he said, he experienced an epiphany. He was
tired of castigating the media for its "US Weekly, People
magazine soft features. I wanted to stop avoiding thinking
about what was going on (in Iraq) and do something about
it."
Out poured "Lions for Lambs," which juxtaposes several
conversations about the value of going to war.
"Plus, I wanted to explore more of what was being said in
the offices (in Washington, D.C.), than what was in 'The
Kingdom,' but that I couldn't get to in that film. Like a
lot of people by that time, I was wondering, 'What is going
on here?' "
By 2006, when he finished "Lion for Lambs," and had
convinced Streep to sign on as a lead, Hollywood's reading
of the national thermometer had changed.
"In 2003, when this thing (the war) looked like a cakewalk,
a lot of people at Universal were like, 'Oh, I don't know
about this.' But by the time that 'Lions and Lambs' was out
there (last year), there was no problem. It's like perfect
timing right now, where people are starting to publicly
question the war," Carnahan said.
Finding funding for the $30 million project was "painless,"
especially after Streep signed on, said Carnahan, who also
is a producer of the film. "Lions for Lambs" is scheduled
to open sometime in November in San Francisco. "There's a
lot of private money out there for people with these ideas
about the war," said David Poland, editor of Movie City
News ( www.moviecitynews.com), which monitors Hollywood's
doings. "People are so angry at Bush and so angry about the
war."
Indeed, finding money for "Grace is Gone" got a lot easier
once Cusack committed to it in early 2006, said producer
Celine Rattray. The five-month production schedule was
"quick, quick, quick," she said.
In the film, Cusack portrays a husband who is supportive of
the war and of his wife who goes off to fight it. But she
doesn't return. By focusing on Cusack's relationship with
his motherless children, the film portrays the war's impact
through a family's changing dynamic - a more digestible way
for an American audience to absorb it.
"People want to go to the movies to be entertained,"
Rattray said, who also produced the documentary "The Ground
Truth" last year, which many anti-war groups have screened
as fundraisers. " 'Grace is Gone' is a film you can enjoy
on an emotional level. It's not (the politically dense)
'Syriana.' "
Other narrative approaches in these films appeal to how
Americans are absorbing the war.
In "In the Valley of Elah," the war is depicted through the
eyes of a Vietnam vet, played by Jones, whose son has gone
AWOL or missing after returning home from Iraq. The Iraq
war is visualized through the son's video shot from the
front lines in Baghdad. Similarly, "Redacted" draws on
digital correspondence from soldiers, including blogs.
If these films do well at the box office, more are sure to
follow.
"There are a lot of scripts I've read out there - but
whether they get made or not remains to be seen," said
Melanie Backer, a production executive at Gartner, a Santa
Monica studio. "You have to be careful. If a film is
really, really political, I think people will stay away.
People want to see movies where people come together and
heal."
Hollywood analyst Poland also wondered how much discussion
of war audiences can tolerate, no matter how far in the
background it might be.
"The reality is that there's not going to be a large market
for any of these films," Poland said. "But the point is
that filmmakers are doing them. It's one of those odd
moments in Hollywood. It's not going to last."
With two movies set for release in the next few weeks,
writer-producer Carnahan wonders whether audiences will see
the war at the multiplex: "That's the $64,000 question. So
much of it is going to be word-of-mouth. A brother or a
friend telling you, 'You gotta see this.' "
E-mail Joe Garofoli at jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com.
End of forwarded article
Jai Maharaj
http://tinyurl.com/24fq83
http://www.mantra.com/jai
http://www.mantra.com/jyotish
Om Shanti
Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.hindunet.org
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational
purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not
have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for
fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current
e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are
not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of
which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed
that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by
subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information
go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of
your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner.