The Curious Case of the Osama-Obama Movie: Hollywood — But Not Politics — As Usual
Before alienating a significant portion of my professional colleagues and possibly irritating Sony Pictures (to whom I am currently pitching a project) by explaining why the proposed Kathryn Bigelow-Mark Boal motion picture on the capture of Bin Laden is a quiet outrage, I should no doubt credential my megaphone.
Some films for which I have been responsible include: The Hanoi Hilton, To Heal a Nation, Ike: Countdown to D-day, Heroes of Desert Storm, Kissinger & Nixon, and especially DC 9/11: Time of Crisis. I cull these titles from my sixty odd credits because each dealt with military and/or political subjects that required cooperation at the highest levels, usually a considerable obstacle.
But even more difficult than obtaining that access, my bigger problem was often within the Hollywood community itself who eyed any such project with which I was involved as suspect; as one of the few outspoken conservatives in Hollywood over a period of 30 years I was hardly mainstream and always subjected to extreme rigor by my enablers at studios and networks.
Would that I had been so coddled as Ms. Bigelow and Mr. Boal appear to be; perhaps I fawned over the wrong people.
To be fair to Sony, this proposed Osama capture project is independently financed (by whom, I wonder) and the studio is involved only as the distributor. Also, my knowledge of the enterprise is only what has been reported in the public media, but there is enough in that to easily see the astounding degree to which the Hollywood-Washington liberal access is mutually corrupting, and is disgracing a popular culture that was once a jewel in America’s patrimony, the means by which our message of a free society conquered the world more easily than Roman legions or British soldiers.
In making a docudrama (and I believe I have done more than any other active American filmmaker) there are three critical factors: proximity of production to actual events, access to the actual participants, and release date. And in each and every one of these elements this proposed project doesn’t merely fail the smell test, it leaves a trail that reeks from the White House to the smart bistros of Beverly Hills.
The most troubling discontinuity from accepted norms has to do with access. As any filmmaker, of any political stripe, can tell you, the Pentagon has an open door policy. They will offer their aid and facilities to any filmmaker with only two provisos: the entire content of the script is submitted and deemed to be generally consistent with the real world military; and, once you accept their support you must agree to their oversight of how you employ their resources.
The second of these is quite legitimate and consistent with case law and the doctrine of “fair use”: once you involve someone in your project you cannot use that involvement in ways they have interdicted — a cousin, if you will, of the Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination. What is the consequence of breaking your end of the bargain? You are liable for civil damages.
But the non-litigious Pentagon simply maintains a policy of subsequent non-cooperation with offenders. Everyone knows that, and that’s the deal. Which brings us to the Bigelow-Boal film The Hurt Locker. According to knowledgable sources in the American military, during the filming of The Hurt Locker Ms. Bigelow violated her agreement with the Pentagon, amongst other things using an American military vehicle to enter a Palestinian area to film a demonstration. Scenes were added but kept from the Pentagon, depicting U.S. personnel abusing detainees.
Well roared, Lionel! Balanced, thoughtful, and lots of deep background. This is one of the reasons why PJM is simply the best media site in the country.
If I may add a note of optimism, I think this project will backfire on both Hollywood and Obeyme. HW is in bad odor, and this is only going to remind most Americans of how closely HW and the Dems are linked.
Not only that, but wiping out Bin Laden won’t matter to anyone a year from now. The economy will. This will be another of those failed leftoid movies made over the past ten years that tries to sway public opinion but ends up on a DVD in the $9.99 bin at Walmart.
Tancred I wouldn’t give 9 cents for it. all it is is campaign material for obummer,
Nine cents would be inflationary for this turkey. No one was terribly impressed with Obamalot’s “role” when this went down. His poll spike only lasted 24 hours.
The timing of the film’s release is of course suspect, but it matters little. Obamatons will vote for the thug no matter what – and they are not the type to see war movies anyway. Those who hate Obama will know enough not to waste their money on a movie that portrays him as courageous.
Barry Little’s approval ratings will be so low by October 2012 that the movie will have virtually no impact. And how can a movie convincingly portray a dramatic “decision” to go after Osama bin Laden?
General
(excitedly)
Mr. President, we found bin Laden!
What should we do?
Obama
(contemplatively)
I don’t know. Let me get back to
you on that.
Barack Obama did something that not even Ronald Reagan was capable of. Obama said go kill the bad guy. Don’t capture him, kill him. This is not a small thing. It is pretty goddamn significant. Not only did he order them to kill Bin Ladin. He insisted on extra backup troops that not even the commandos had requested.
Seal Team Six was created in 1980 at the beginning of Reagan’s presidency. They trained extremely hard, more than 300 days of training every year. Allegedly they spend more bullets in training to hone their marksmanship capabilities than the entire Marine Corps. How many times did Ronald Reagan use this awesome force to “go kill the bad guy”?….. Answer: Zero times. It’s not like there was a shortage of terrorism in the 80ties. Even during the Archille Lauro hostage situation, Ronald Reagan was too much of a pussy to use lethal force against the terrorists. Seal Team Six was trailing behind Archille Lauro in a boat with their hands tied by a President unable to make the same kind of gutsy decisions that Obama is capable of.
A similar situation was recently when Somali pirates had hijacked a cargo ship. Obama allowed Seal Team Six snipers to kill the 3 Somalian pirates with simultaneous head shots. Totally unprecedented in American history. No one before Obama has had the balls to do something similar while the entire world was watching.
Jimmy Carter famously asked Delta Force to not kill but shoot the Iranian hostage takers in the shoulder. That’s an example of what presidents normally do.
Even if this movie goes full tilt Obama fawning, I don’t care. He deserves every accolade for the killing of Bin Ladin. Not because he did anything in the actual hunting. He didn’t. But because he had more balls in the end game than any president before him.
Balls? It took him eight months to decide to go after Osama.
“(we’re told he took 16 hours on that no-brainer, which I expect will be the framing device of the film)”
Well eight months and 16 hours.
And how do you know where or when the SEALS have been in action? You think the only times have been when the Obama told the media?
JL’s comment reminds me of a guy I saw in a bar trying to pick up a pretty girl by telling her that he was the backup pilot for Air Force One and that he used to be a CIA spy. The girl was a bar back and had heard similar stories a few thousand times before. She yawned.
JL, how much are they paying you to post this nonsense. You leftists want to have it both ways: You care about puppies and trees and you are so very anti-torture, but you have no problem summarily executing people with shots to the head? You want to try terrorists in our country using our laws, giving them the rights of an American citizen, but you are also okay with just shooting them in the head? How can you live with yourself being a shill for someone who hates his own country, doesn’t even pretend to be representing sixty percent of the population, whose appointees don’t pay their own taxes but want to raise ours, who thumbs his nose at the Constitution, the rule of law, Christianity, Israel, Republicans. So, JL, ask yourself, has your man made our world safer, saner, more moral?
One picture is worth a thousand words-
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=obama+group+watching+seal+team+six+osama&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1252&bih=599&tbm=isch&tbnid=Je7tPxche5ClYM:&imgrefurl=http://neveryetmelted.com/categories/iraq-war/osama-bin-laden/page/2/&docid=JZQP8CiJhcCGLM&w=375&h=219&ei=OxpFTuu_N6b00gGRraTSBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=495&vpy=279&dur=2545&hovh=171&hovw=294&tx=129&ty=189&page=4&tbnh=128&tbnw=197&start=52&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:14,s:52
I remember seeing this picture and being struck by the fact that Obama seems completely disengaged from the activity. Hunched in a corner as if he wants nothing to do with the action. Waiting for posterity to airbrush him out? Who knows. But far from the picture you paint JL.
You don’t find a leader hunched in the corner at moments of decision making and risk.
ps- I have no idea what the background article in the search is all about. It just brought up the picture.
You don’t find a leader hunched in a corner. Body language does mean something after all.
It is worse than that, but Obama was protected by the media again.
Obama is sitting in the corner. (The close up photo shows what appears to be a very angry Obama– what would he have been angry about ? There is a lot of speculation about that, but it is a different matter.)
Notice that Obama is wearing his golf clothes. He was rushed off the golf course and hurried back to the situation room because the mission was starting. So, he had no time to change, and no good seat. (To be fair, it is certain that every person in that room offered his or her own chair to the President, but Obama declined– there is no other reasonable explanation.)
The important point is that Obama was golfing as preparations for this incredibly important mission were taking place. The biggest event of his Presidency– the raid to kill Bin Laden– and he was out golfing. How could any President be on the golf course during the final prep for that mission?
There is something very wrong with either the President or the story we have been told about the events leading up to the final assault. It is inconceivable that a President would be golfing in the final hours and minutes before the Bin Laden mission. Something is wrong.
If bin laden had been killed, rather than captured, when Bush was POTUS you lefties would be demanding that Bush be tried before the International Court of Justice.
Exactly! If Bush had done it, it would have been a Crime Against Humanity but since Obama claimed credit, it was a great and wonderful thing making Obama deserving of re-election even though it is virtually the only positive thing he’s done during his presidency.
Leftist hypocrisy knows no bounds….
It is going to be VERY difficult to give the bin Laden assassination a traditional Hollywood treatment. Notwithstanding the justice of the action (as in, he needed killin’, as they say out West), the image at the climax of this story is … a sick, skinny, unarmed old man being gunned down by the finest fighting men in the world. NOT PRETTY. Think of all the mileage the hate-Israel-and-Jews crowd got out of the killing of Sheik Yassin, “an elderly spiritual leader in a wheelchair.” For far too many people, mostly stupid ones, justice takes second place to optics…
>”Obama allowed Seal Team Six snipers to kill the 3 Somalian pirates with simultaneous head shots.”
Right. After thinking about it for FOUR DAYS.
How would you like to have been that American hostage, floating in the ocean and baking in the sun with 3 heavily armed hijackers, waiting and waiting and waiting for your President to finally say, “Well I guess they aren’t going to die of natural causes. We might as well take some action now.”
96 hours to decide to take out the pirates. 16 hours to decide to take out Osama.
We need a grown-up in the White House. Badly.
The deceision to take out the Somali pirates was made by the cammander on site. The decision to take out OBL was forced on Barry by Gates and Clinton. The only ball Barry had were sliced into the woods as he played golf while Seal Team 6 went into harms way. Read something other than the Huffington Post for your facts you whining sycophant.
Your breath smells bad. You know why. I know why.
You should be embarrassed.
That is all.
I guess you missed the part where Leon Panetta was responsible for making the decision, after which Barack Obama took the credit once all had gone well. Read the narratives immediately after the event and you’ll see that after the truth came out facts were edited to make Obama look good. That 8 months and 16 hours, Valerie Jarrett’s control of his words and actions, and the need to get approval from Jarrett, which Panetta grew tired with out of fear the window of opportunity would close because the media was going to run stories so the order had to be given, Panetta making the decision because at the end of the time there was no go ahead fromObama, all of that gives the lie to Obama as a hot shot decision-maker who did what his predecessor couldn’t. Given the facts which were scrubbed so Obama could brag he got Osama, this movie will not be anything but propaganda a la Leni Riefenstahl.
Here is the entire (sorry) account:
http://socyberty.com/issues/white-house-insider-obama-hesitated-panetta-issued-order-to-kill-osama-bin-laden/#ixzz1LatVDthD
Thanks, Miriam.
Before a president can go tell the Seals to “kill the bad guy” he must know where the bad guy is! Bin Laden was an expert at hiding and was in territory that was friendly to him. Frankly, it took the CIA 10 years to track him to his lair in Pakistan. I’m sure that Bush would have called the shot if it had been available.
If Obama remotely wanted to do the right thing, this movie should never been proposed. Nobody should even know that “Seal Team 6″ exists; “American Special Forces” took out Bin Laden, no more to be said.
“[There was a s]ignificant push to take [bin Laden] out months ago. Senior WH staff resisted. This was cause of much strain between HC and Obama/Jarrett. HC and LP were in constant communication over matter – both attempted to convince administration to act. Administration feared failure and resulting negative impact on president. Intel disgusted over politics over national security. Staff resigned/left. Check timeline to corroborate.
Now Intel already leaking to media facts surrounding how info obtained. Namely from enhanced interrogation efforts via GITMO prisoners. Obama administration placed in corner on this. Some media aware of danger to president RE this and attempting protection. Others looking for further investigation. We are pushing for them to follow through and already meeting with some access.
Point of determination made FOR Obama not BY Obama. Will clarify as details become more clear. Very clear divide between Military and WH. Jarrett marginalized 100% on decision to take out OBL. She played no part. BD worked with LP and HC to form coalition to force CoC to engage.
IMPORTANT SPECIFIC: When 48 hour go order issued, CoC was told, not requested. Administration scrambled to abort. That order was overruled. This order did not originate from CoC. Repeat – this order did not originate from CoC. He complied, but did not originate.” http://neveryetmelted.com. The blogger got this from a leaked source that he cannot verify.
Well said, and I’m sure the movie will depict obama as the undecided man he is, taking credit for something he has no right to even mention.
I’m so glad we have a superman in the white house, with cape and all-all problems of the world are soved by him, and him alone! -sarcasm off-
Would it kill you to use actually names of people or organizations? I’m pretty sure “WH” is White House but have no idea who/what you mean by “HC”, “LP”, “Coc” or “BD”.
HC= Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State
LP= Leon Panetta, Director of CIA
CoC = Commander in Chief
BD = ? ? ()
BD= Bill Daley
So Reagan’s attack on Gaddaffi retaliating for the disco bombing doesn’t count ? Not to mention winning the Cold War and Nicaraguan elections.
I will give Obama credit for avoiding all those civilian trials with Predator strikes.
Barack Obama is total scum. For years he, and just about every other liberal POS, did everything in their powqer to help terrorists, by undercutting George Bush at every opportunity, in order to curry favor with the America-hating, terrorist-loving left…which strategy worked well enough to get him elected president. Then, once in power, he adopted the exact same policies he once lambasted Bush for employing.
If it wasn’t for trash like Obama, the rest of the lib pols and the MSM we could have accomplished much more to get terrorists and their state sponsors then we actually did when George Bush was president.
Obama’s only goal was to get power and then to hold onto it. And, the only reason the scumbag Dems pulled the trigger on Bin Laden is because they decided it would help them at the ballot box come election.
O was decisive about taking a Nobel he didn’t deserve, so I guess it’s conceivable that he was decisive in taking out OBL as well, even though there’s quite a bit of evidence that he was dragged into it.
And then, JL, having permitted Seal Team 6 to take out Bin Laden, this administration (Loose lips Joe) outted them to the public in general. At the time I remember thinking “what in the he** are they doing! They just painted a target on their backs!”.
Imagine that. When I read about the Chinook going down last weekend with Seal Team 6 members on board, it made me sick to my stomach. As far as I’m concerned, this administration is guilty of treason – and they have the blood of our soldiers on their hands. How about some conservative filmmakers putting THAT out there!
you tell’m LBF, I’m with you 150%,
leftbrainfemale,
In replying to your post, I can see that there are still quite a few comments to read before this reply from me will even find its way to the queue. But I am so gratified to read your statement made in such a no nonsense fashion that I felt compelled to thank you for doing so immediately.
I have not seen many voicing this obvious understanding which needs to become part of the public discussion. I and other veterans with even a little training in such matters understand precisely what you have already posited so well. And that is the fact that clandestine operations are engaged in by those who know that they will rarely if ever receive any public accolades at all. Any medals, commendations, etc that may be involved are presented in secret without the honoree even taking home these commendations in most cases.
The immediate flailing about in public of the administration as they rushed to pose as “heroes” made me sick, and the subsequent carefully planned ambush of the Seals in Afghanistan by the Taliban (who clearly had Pakistani intel to work with) was a obvious follow up to the grandstanding by this ignorant pack of fools in the White house. I pray to God that they will catch so much flack and steely eyed stare downs from every military person they do business with from now on, that it will even make it through to their cordoned off consciousness.
Thank you again for making the point. I do truly hope that this becomes a subject for a wider discussion because there is just no way that mission would have been taken out so easily had the administration followed the time tested protocols for handling clandestine intelligence.
MichaelC -
Thank you for your kind words – sometimes it feels like there are so few of us true patriots around – but I thank you, from the bottom of my heart – for your service to this country. I pray God may grant us yet a reprieve from this foolish and destructive gaggle of geese that has been in control for far too long.
You seem to forget a very different confrontation off Somalia, one involving a captured US-flagged yacht with several Americans on board. The navy did nothing more than tail the ship. Only after shots were heard did the navy act, only to discover that the Americans were all dead – shot by their captors.
Well, let’s see.
- he let Pelosi write 100% of Obamacare
- he let Drooling Barney write 100% of financial “reform”
- he let Pelosi Reid write 100% of the StickItToUs
- he never presented a plan during the 3 months of the debt ceiling “debate”
- he voted present 130 times
- it took him 5 years to reveal his birth certificate
- he has never revealed his school transcripts
- he has never even hinted at what he thinks should be done about SS and medicare
- it took him 6 months to make a decision in Afghanistan
- he has played it both ways on every Bush Terrorism and Iraq initiative
but you think he was a macho warrior when it came to Bin Laden.
Dream on, fool.
actually those congress critters never wrote (or read) the bills. they were all written by special interest groups. BP (yes the oil company) wrote one, the unions wrote another … and so on. It is a shame that this crap has been going on for years.
yeh jl you really love the guy and it shows.
You really believe that fairy tale?
That was a lot of drivel. Pure, unadulterated drivel.
But you sure put a lot of time into it, apparently. Too bad that time was not spent on research.
Hmmm. Why exactly was it necessary to kill Bin Laden? It might have made a lot more sense to capture him. Granted, that could have proven impossible, but it is clear that the option was never even on the table. The orders going in were to kill, not capture, Osama Bin Laden, and he was shot on sight. So he was never interrogated, and he took all his secrets to his watery grave.
That decision was probably very convenient for some people who are no friends of the US. It was made by Captain Courageous, Barack Obama. What was he pondering on, for sixteen hours?
You are stupid.
What kind of horsesh!t is this? Balls? Only when Michelle takes them out of her purse and lets him use them for a few minutes at a time. The only reason the kill order was issued was because he was advised to issue it. It probably took days and days to convince Obama this was his best option politically.
As others have said, liberals will piss themselves over the death penalty, Gitmo, and the Abu Gharib so-called torture, and any other forms of violence but when their faux hero is involved, hell, disembowel the bastards!
Effn’ hypocrite!!
Dear JL….
I’m delighted that the script will now have an “action ending”. Just think how boring the film would be as it examined and agonized over where Obama and Holder would hold Osama’s civil trial.
Not the stuff that makes box office hits. Even more difficult would be the arcade game.
I am looking forward to the sequel, the one in which Seal Team Six meets their demise in “Double Down”, where, fueled by His, recent luck, Obama orders these American Heroes to their deaths in a “gutsy and decisive,assassination attempt” that only He could be credited with.
Had that script also been pitched?
JL, there is a really big difference between Carter sending Delta Force into Iran -with or without a kill order- Reagan dealing with plane hijackings and the taking of the Achille Lauro back in the eighties and what Obama is doing now.
And that difference is…
We are, at present, in a state of war. I don’t recall right off but I believe the Achille Lauro was an Italian flagged ship. Maybe Reagan didn’t send the SeAL’s on to the ship because he didn’t want to commit an act of war against a sovereign nation, an ally, at that.
The things you can do on a battle field, or in a war-time situation are greatly different than what you can and cannot due in times of, declared, peace.
There have been more than a few conflicting accounts as to what actually happened in the White House as the action was unfolding that weekend. One thing for sure, though, is the Administration was tripping all over itself blabbing details of the raid, many of which likely should have remained under wraps. In their eagerness to make political hay, the story continually morphed as to whether or not the “audience” in the White House was indeed “watching” in real time as the action unfolded, or whether there was a “blackout”. The truth seemed to evolve as questions arose, and it began to dawn on them that they might have to answer more detailed, “uncomfortable” questions.
Given Obama’s propensity for tarting up press conferences with “professionals” in their “business attire”, such as doctors in lab coats, to make sure his dimwitted subjects “get it”, about the only thing he didn’t do on that Sunday late evening announcement is step behind the podium in his fatigues.
he’ll wear the fatigues next time,
Gracias! That was an interesting article, Mr. C. You trapped the right information, especially the “unexpected” access to Pentagon bigwigs by the producers who had previously broken the second rule.
If they puff this film into election propaganda for President Gutsy, one thing that you might see is a rapid deployment of well-informed, well-placed guys with just the right needle to deflate the balloon. Like a retired military man or maybe someone from the intelligence side. Just a guess.
Anyway, gracias again. I hardly ever read any pajama media stories about Hollywood, but this time I am glad I did so.
I was watching Paul Begala on MSNBC last night (AC360). He is somewhat more likable than some of the other Democrat apparatchiks. Still, after watching him and the other lefties bantering it occurred to me that they are really delusional.
I really think the only way to counter the progressives is simply get more power than them. I don’t think they can be convinced the error of their ways. Conservatives seem to spend a lot of time trying to figure out the left and finding a way to compromise, which is good I guess. I think overall though, they should spend more time marketing their philosophy and ideas to people that are actually receptive.
As far as the timing of the movie, it certainly doesn’t pass the smell test. I also wonder if Obama really has any significant appreciation for our Military. I’m glad he “got” Osama, but I didn’t see much sincere respect for the capability that allowed him do do it. That capability took many years and much dedication to acquire.
I am profoundly appreciative that the oath the DoD employees and the Service members take is to Protect and Defend the Constitution of the United States.
They are totally delusional and can’t be reasoned with. It’s not that they see things differently; they have two left eyes. They can’t see anything that’s not on the left. The only way to deal with them is to keep them out of power. Could Nancy Pelosi get elected from any congressional district in the country other than SF (well, maybe a few in NY, Chicago, LA … )? Yet she gave us ObamaCare. That’s the problem in a nutshell. To the extent these people can project political power, we’re doomed.
the only way Pelosi was able to ramrod Obummercare through is that she nagged, threatened, pleaded, whined, threatened, threw hissy fits… and the spineless morons she used to rule bought it all…. forgot their oaths of office, and gave the screamer what she wanted. Never mind their constitutnes, who PUT them in those places of power, and to whom they ultimately ARE responsible.
Dems and leftwing whackjobs have mastered the use of confrontation and shaming their opposition. The ONLY cure for this is to send men with SPINE to Washington, who will stand up to theatrics of the Peligrosi nature, and vote for THEIR OEN people. This did not happen. Many who failed in this wise have not been returned to their positions of misused power, which is good. Many more will not be. As long as spinless wimps populate the congress, those tyrants of Pelosi’s ilk will continue to call the shots. That to our shame, and hurt.
Sony has already assigned a release date of October 12 (2012) to this unnamed project.
Corruption that stinks like a dead rat behind oak paneling.
If Obama wants to win he should kill this movie. The movie will not energize his base. The movie won’t change the minds of the people who don’t like him. The worst part for him is that it’s a don’t care for the swing voters. A made up movie about Obamacare working well and coming in under budget would be better. A big lie is better than a truth no one cares about in politics.
…great article Lionel Chetwynd
I was impressed with what the Bush administration said. kudos. they really were decent and respectful of the office of the Presidency.
I don’t think this movie will go down at all well with the military community, either. Milblogger Greyhawk at the Mudville Gazette has already gone after it with all guns blazing, and concluded with this promise, which goes for me as well: “Not only will I not see it, I won’t see any other movie playing in a multiplex while it’s there, and I won’t see the next movie made by anyone associated with it.”
(complete blog entry here – http://www.mudvillegazette.com/034416.html)
Sgt. Mom,
First, thank you for your service. Second, for the dynamite link to Greyhawk’s brilliant, scathing and giggle inducing article. I love PJ media more every day.
I am stunned that the media isn’t screaming about the needless revenge slaughter of 20 of our finest. Obama is one lowlife SOB.
I’m perfectly OK with letting Hollywood and Our Beloved Great Leader be seen publicly pissing on and dancing over the grave of Bin-Laden right before the election. It will remind everybody of the fact that this administration’s one great achievement was not its own and of the dearth of achievement otherwise. And it just might persuade a few Muslims to stay home on election day. Let’s not endeavor to talk the opposition out of yet another misstep.
Someone in Hollywood should produce a documentary on how the Obama administration’s loose lips after bin Laden’s killing may have helped the Taliban assassinate about 20 members of Seal Team 6 in revenge.
The release date for this new project? October 5, 2012, a week before Sony’s release.
It might have a depressing effect on Sony’s box office…and Obama’s “halo.”
‘ONE’ muslim killing another muslim [lowercase 'm' on purpose]?
Is this akin to a black on black crime? *yawn*
Hollywood? Really? Pathetic as per usual.
[Sorry, folks...I couldn't rezeezt snarking].
Lionel,
THANK YOU for writing this article, as your last raised flag, the release date, is exactly what has been on my mind since this film was announced.
As someone who is an avid film buff and listened to interviews of cast and crew “war stories” about getting films produced and dealing with the Pentagon in particular, the turnaround time between an early 2011 real-life event and a late 2012 big-budget high-prestige movie seems like a VERY rushed schedule.
Even with a private producer financing the picture and Katherine Bigelow on board, the time to cast the movie, get the official story, adapt it into a version that could be shot, scout locations, shooting, post-production, etc., would still take a tremendous amount of work to get done within one calendar year, let alone have to deal with the Pentagon’s approval of the process at the same time.
I’m just hoping that your writings on this situation get bigger play, as this whole situation stinks to high heaven and the production deserves the kind of scrutiny that you and Rep. Peter King are attempting to bring to it.
Ah Katherine Bigelow, channeling the spirit of Leni Riefenstahl in the form of political propaganda masquarading as a movie, to hide the ineptness of the empty suit dictator in the White House. She ought to wait until October 31, 2012 then her propaganda can be what it really is, bad candy given as a Halloween treat, to unsuspecting children.
I’ll pass Ms. Rienfenstahl II, I Katherine Bigelow, and just watch the original Halloween with Jaime Lee Curtis and cast.
So Obummer allows ST6 to take out Bin Laden. Then he and his not so just, Justice Dept., decides to prosecute the people who gathered the information to make it possible. It is like he is saying: “I am going to get the guys that forced me to make a decision.”
I wonder if the propaganda film will include that little fact.
Based on what I’ve read and heard from the SEALs themselves and family members, they are not happy at all about the publicity surrounding the bin Laden kill. My sister lives close to their base in Virginia and knows some of the family members through work and her kids’ schools (including the wife of one of the SEALs killed in the recent crash), and they are not pleased with any of this. The administration should be very careful because this movie could backfire on them.
BTW, does anyone remember how the Democrats howled about Bush using video of 9/11 at the Republican convention? They thought it was unseemly and wrong to politicize it. How do they explain this?
I agree the whole project stinks to high heaven. (An unbiased movie about this would be interesting, but we all know Hollywood isn’t capable of “unbiased.”)
The absolute best way to counter this propaganda is for PJTV, milbloggers, Tea Party-types, and all other right-leaning voices to keep harping on this loud and long.
If the question of impropriety filters into just a few mainstream media outlets it will taint the whole project, and embarrass those involved.
As they say, sunlight is the best disinfectant.
I’ve got to get this off my chest. Andrew Stevens as Mike Eruzione? Really, Lionel???
It seemed a good idea at the time…but thanks and we’ll keep it in mind for next time. (If I used emoticons, there’d be a smiley face here) — we all roared with laughter at your comment and appreciate your patience…
Such a curious piece from Lionel. I honestly don’t understand the degree to which he does not understand how this all works. There is very little–in fact nothing suspicious here. I have been asked to write a long piece about this matter explaining how this all works and what is actually happening, but unfortunately don’t have the time at the moment. The Hurt Locker is not a political film. It is a talented film with very little in the way of political viewpoint; it is a groundbreaking step in film making naturalism (something I also know about, having won the British Academy Award myself for Best Picture for one of the most groundbreaking films of realism in modern times). The Hurt Locker is a voyeuristic feast authored by a film maker of major talent. In fact, particularly impressive is her restraint from putting political views on display.
I am often asked what are the political views of Chris Nolan. I have no idea–but his work on the screen gives me a hint. No one really can tell the political views of Clint Eastwood from his films, or much else if truth be told. Even Barbara Streisand does not make films with politics as the theme or hidden messages. Only Redford and Moore seem hell bent on political messages, although their films never reach an audience outside of a liberal one.
Much has been made about some deal Ms. Bigelow may have violated. I suspect much more has been made of this than is the case, after all, we have now seen her superb finished film. Her film did much, especially in terms of modern cinematic language, to advance the profile of the military in a completely respectful way. Especially important to notice is that her film was such a dark horse and unlikely Oscar contender that is had no Oscar platform or release plan–and most revealing–no post Oscar plan. I recall seeing the film the summer prior to the Oscar and telling friends that I had seen the best film of the year. Eventually people of all kinds in the Academy, on their own and uninfluenced by the system of campaigns etc, also agreed.
It is very hard to argue with success, especially when the success is genuinely deserved. It would be completely inappropriate for the Pentagon or anyone to not assist a major, acclaimed film maker with her next project, especially when such assistance is more typical than not.
There is nothing odd, suspicious, or unusual about any aspect of this process. Lionel thinks there is–but based on what? That most films these days are not financed by studios themselves is not suspicious? That the filmmaker has displayed that her particular talent is to not make films with overt political agendas on display? I could go on and on at length explaining how this all works–but Lionel’s little narrative is way off the mark of accuracy or context.
There is one aspect that has an overt political dimension, and I spoke of this in the Weekly Standard. That is the release schedule. The execs at Sony are Obama supporters. So what? There is no big surprise here. Sony held an Obama fundraiser on the lot recently–again, no surprise. Execs think they can contribute to the conversation of helping their candidate in their own little way by delivering their own little October surprise. They are wrong and these things demonstrably have no effect.
In the case of Obama this need may be more intense since he has no shining record to run on and zero accomplishments perhaps the studio powers feel they can use the release date to create the Osama story as an Obama accomplishment. This narrative will not stick and is trumped by the other catastrophic aspects of this presidency.
Now I know a thing or two about all of this–and not because I have recently flown in Sir Howard Stringer’s jet with him. And not only because I am involved in all kinds of aspects film financing, packaging and distribution worldwide (my own film, Tinker Tailor, Soldier, Spy is about to be released). But I actually produced a quite good film (a film we still own) that was distributed by Dreamworks. The film in question, The Contender, was perceived by the owners of that company as a screed against nasty conservatives. Funny how the years and historical events have changed perceptions! When Dreamworks licensed our film for domestic release, and paid a very high price to do so, they made the determination that this would be their October surprise in the controversial Bush/Gore election. As with Sony now, there was no secret then to the political affiliations of the owners of Dreamworks.
The film had no impact on the election–but the timing was something I called “their little contribution to the cause.” Rather like Sony’s little contribution this time.
As for the upcoming Bigelow film, I cannot wait to see it what ever the release date! First class films from top notch talent is always exciting.
Reading any more into this is just naive or silly or out of touch, or perhaps more! In fact, not only is this business as usual, there is nothing so far that I can detect egregious about this story!
Psychopaths are scary! A smart society would consign them to the sewer system where they belong.
Thanks for your little contribution, Dougie.
You are very welcome! Anything I can do to help bring some clarity to this mostly made up story!!
I am a fan of your movies Doug but would you not have felt uncomfortable if a big Hollywood movie came out about George HW Bush’s victory in Iraq just before the election vs Clinton? Proof that it had swayed the electorate would be impossible, but would you have supported its right to be released? Would you not have felt that this could harm our republic?. For me this is just one more of the batterings that our free and peaceful elections have taken. Al Gore did such a good job convincing people, without much evidence to speak of, that the 2000 election was cooked. Such a good job that he threw the Mexican elections into chaos with considerable loss of life. When people become convinced rightly (and thank heavens so far) wrongly that elections are rigged, then the possibility of violence becomes imminent.
Would you have no problem about a high profile film release just before the election that “proved” Obama was not a US citizen?
I hope you will consider rethinking your position and that doing your bit should be confined to voting, donating to your candidate etc etc…
You know nothing about who financed the film. Would it not trouble you if it were Soros or Koch or Gates or whoever?
Finally, unless you have read the script and conversed with the director and even then it’s still not a given, how can you say that this is/will be a first class film. A lot of first class filmmakers have made turkeys.
In Kathryn Bigelow Obama now has his very own Leni Riefenstahl.
I understand according to a conservative news sources, soon after osama had been killed it was reported that Leon Panetta had not even informed obama He was going after Osama, was it Panetta didn’t trust obama? was Panetta afraid obama would phone osama that a raid was coming? I understand obama wasn’t even in the war room until the helicopters were ready to touch down, and then and only then was 0bama told of the raid.
Another reason comes to mind for not telling obama was something might have gone wrong and if he had know about it he could have blamed bush. just like “OPERATION GUNRUNNER” obama claims he didn’t know about the operation “Gunrunner” of course i believe he knew about operation “Gunrunner” but I doubt he knew anything about the operation to kill Osama.
In fact, not only is this business as usual, there is nothing so far that I can detect egregious about this story!
Naive. Silly. Out of touch.
Don’t put it past this administration and Hollywood to completely screw up this movie.
Are they going to include a water boarding scene in Gitmo, maybe some medeval torture in some Egyptian or Saudi prison, while the valiant/pretty CIA agent tries to determine Osama’s whereabouts? The valiant/pretty CIA agent is disgusted by the methods, and resigns after berating the career CIA guys that they’ve “lost their souls!”, but not before she puts together the Pakistan location by being “nice” to the prisoners.
Will there be scenes of evil Bush/Cheney operatives stopping the Osama investigation, because the only way that evil Bush/Cheney can justify the war is to have a live Osama boogeyman? The dialog almost writes itself.
Yeah, then for the last 1/3 of the movie, valiant/handsome Obama coolly makes the hard decisions. He can even spout some military jargon, since it will make him look like he’s in charge. Quick cuts between Obama looking tense, and the Seal Team going in hot. Just have to make sure that the Seal Team is ethnically mixed; maybe make one of the helicopter pilots a woman.
Hey, can I get a screen writing credit for this?
I guess Obama and Sony must be pretty confident the rubes will not be repulsed by the obvious propagandistic manipulation. Sadly, they’re probably right.
So let’s see, History dumps the Kennedys miniseries because of sensitivity concerns…and Sony finds a hard release date for a project that, at its most critical, couldn’t possibly do anything other than lionize Obama.
Of course, that will seem hilarious to most thinking people, and will damage the director’s brand. What remains is the question of whether this film’s release date amounts to an in-kind donation of countless millions of dollars.
This project stinks to high heaven. I hope they go ahead with it. This will be the final nail in his coffin by creating such a controversay over a job/mission that I doubt he had anything at all to do with. He, afterall, has not made a good decision yet in my expert opinion.
I am with the above poster/blogger who will not see or not even go to a multiplex theater for showing said product or another product in that theater. The whole concept is disturbing especially after the recent deaths of the Seals in the helicopter crash. As Commander-in-Chief he needs to show some respect. I cry for those Seals and their families.
Ah, the 31 Seals, nowhere mentioned in these comments — can it be that just divulging their location, as the Administration is strongly suspected of doing, had something to do with their deaths?
I’m becoming increasingly concerned with Democrats in high office who have violently deceased bodies trailing off behind them as far as the eye can see. Snopes to the contrary, George W had no such trail of dead people. George HW had no such trail of dead people, Reagan certainly had no such trail of dead people. Now, however, Obama has 31, nicht wahr? How do these things happen?
Obama’s “Arab Spring” is doing quite well:
http://www.kforcegov.com/Services/IS/NightWatch/NightWatch_11000165.aspx
“Egypt: For the record. The government initiated a process to end the state of emergency that has been in place for three decades, a Cabinet spokesman said. The spokesman said the government is coordinating the procedures with the military council.
Comment: The only significance of this announcement is that it reinforces the assessment that the political system has not changed, except that Mubarak and his family are no longer in charge.
Egyptian Islamist movements and parties said they will demonstrate if the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) imposes guidelines for drafting a new constitution, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.
A Gamaah al-Islamiyah spokesman said his party will object to the guidelines and that any attempt to impose them will have a serious negative impact.
A Freedom and Justice Party leader said the party also is against supra-constitutional principles and will confront any attempt to draft them with million-strong protests, adding that neither the SCAF nor any Cabinet head has the right to oppose popular will.
Salafi Asala Party chairman Adel Afifi said Islamist forces will protest in Cairo and other governorates, while a Salafi Front spokesman said the Islamist groups will protest in governorates during Ramadan and return to Tahrir Square when the holy month ends.
Comment: The Egyptian political situation incrementally is empowering the Islamists. The military leadership continues to direct measures that will appease the Islamists in order to restore civil order. The moves continue to encourage the Islamists to ask for more concessions.”
Yes, thanks — what the world needs now is more appeasement, empowerment and concessions to benefit the Islamists. The world is progressively leaning forward in their foxholes waiting for the other shoe to drop in Yemen, Syria and Turkey without mentioning the spot-on job the State Department does in moderating Pakistan and Iran.
“will tell the story of a president who fearlessly succeeded where his predecessors failed”
I think it’s going to be about a bit more than that. Remember what was going on in the weeks and days leading up to the Osama raid? Wasn’t Donald Trump out there all over the media asking about Obama’s birth certificate, which Obama released literally days before the Osama mission. So, I think we can expect to see that played out in the movie. While our fearless president was trying to focus on Osama, what were those silly Republicans doing? Why, they were whining about Obama’s birth certificate. And if any of the Republicans running for president were also calling for his birth certificate at that time, you can be sure they’ll be featured looking silly in the movie, too.
So, not only will they use the movie as an opportunity to make the president look good; they probably will also use it as an opportunity to ridicule the opposition.
Odds are pretty good they are not going to include a scene of having the reality of pulling Obie off a golf course to make that “16 hour decision”.
I think that P.J. Goebbels (former German Reich Minister of Propaganda) would be very proud of the Liberal News Mafia and of the American Democrats. The Dems have perfected his methods and now propaganda is seamlessly (and invisibly) integrated into our daily lives. It’s everywhere you look and you seldom notice the Propaganda because, well, its everywhere.
And its more than just the same old Propaganda put out by Goebbels. The New Propaganda deeply subliminal. It affects you below the level of conscious awareness. It accomplishes its goals even if you are not aware of its effects on you.
Its in children’s cartoons! Its on Nickelodeon, Disney and the Cartoon Network. Its in the School system, on the Radio, on the Billboards, on the Magazine cover, in your I-Pod and on the Movie Screen.
from wikipedia:
For the same reason, Goebbels worked to bring culture to the masses – promoting the sale of cheap radios, organizing free concerts in factories, staging art exhibitions in small towns and establishing mobile cinemas to bring the movies to every village. All of this served short-term propaganda ends, but also served to reconcile the German people, particularly the working class, to the regime.[39]
: end quote
Some of Goebells best films include Feldzug in Polen
(The Campaign in Poland) is a 69 minute film depicting the 1939 invasion of Poland. Portraying the Poles as aggressors and ethnic Germans living in Poland as an oppressed minority….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM0ln7jAqqk
there is also U-Boote Westwärts
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=988728717041995529
It was a 1941 German war film promoting the Kriegsmarine where the brave U-Boat crew defends international waters from the horror of the Royal Navy.
from wikipedia: U-Boote Westwärts
The film follows the crew of a U-Boat, from their life the day before they ship off – meeting their family and sweethearts, spending a last night at a club, etc. Then they ship, soon boarding a Dutch merchant ship….
As you can see the Democrats have perfected the Art of Propaganda to the degree that myth has becomes reality, Messiahs are created, crisis is manufactured and little baby Liberals (liberal larvae) are grown in Laboratories also know as Public Schools.
The culture war is over guys. We lost.
I do not for a second believe Bozo had anything to do with the decison to get Osama. He was notified after the fact. There is no way he would give a kill order. Soros, yes ..Bozo? no way.
While I agree with all the points in this article, this movie won’t help Obama come election time. Remember Obama’s “jump” in appproval ratings after Osama was turned into fish food? Of course not, because his approval ratings went no where and movie a year and a half after the event isn’t going to do anything for his approval ratings, either.
Also…. a lot liberals think the Osama raid was a dirty hit job, so the movie may well backfire for Obama. Conservatives will see it as cheap re-election ploy and his liberal base will be reminded that Obama ordered an illegal hit job and then made a movie glorifying it. That’s just my $0.02, though.
Boycott SONY
What a poorly written article; the point could have been made in a paragraph, the rest is mostly movie name-dropping. Guessing you’re paid by the word?
Mr. Chetwynd
I am a special operations force insider. Please contact me at the e-mail address I listed and I can give you even more information about why this is an outrage.
I cannot find your EMail address.
Brilliant.
I thing missing is the fact that Obama’s reason for not showing OBL body was for fear of angering, and causing increased violence against American interests. He didn’t want to appear as if we were doing a in your face end zone celibration.
And this proposed movie isn’t one of those end-zone celebrations? and it won’t provoke retaliation somewhere in the Moslem world against American interests? Sure of that, are you all? Although, to be strictly fair, it seems that merely breathing invites retaliation from certain quarters … well done, then, President Obama. Your enthusiasm, dedication, and support of the currently serving military, and those veterans taking an interest in this all is noted. Yes, it is noted. And when returning a military salute, try to take note of the approved form. Thank you, very much.
And yet he went on a victory tour immediately afterward.
There were Muslim imams on the ship, ready to perform a burial service that was designed to appease Muslims– yet we are told Bin Laden was not a Muslim, but that he had only hijacked the religion of peace. If he was not a Muslim, why did they need Muslims to preform the burial at sea?
And, back to the victory tour by Obama…he also is fine with the “Ground Zero Mosque”, which is the Muslim version of a victory dance.
When Obama is defeated in 2012, I will do a victory dance for America, all the way up to inauguration day, when he will be sitting there as the new President is sworn in. One can only hope for the delicious irony of that new President being someone like Paul Ryan, who Obama invited to his economic speech, in order to publicly ridicule him. No matter which Republican is sworn in, it will be a great day.
it has been 40 years since I saw Jane Fonda movie, and more than 10 since I bought a ticket or rented a video where Sean Penn might get a royalty. And while I respect Hollywooders right to free speech, it is the money from me and people like me that gives these people their platform. Sony, would I stop buying their electronics, or seeing the movies they make as retribution for blatant intervention in the US political process, of course i would, the movie should be released after the election, and in that vein, are there not regulations on the books about alien contributions to candidates? If memory serves, Sony is Japanese
I am wondering if the film makers will include the part about Bin Laden’s body being washed prior to the burial at sea, presided over by Muslim clerics.
Also, who is going to go see it? Not lefties, unless the story is altered to denigrate the military and make Obama the true hero who over-ruled reluctant military officers. I guess that must be what they have in mind. No doubt they will use the MSNBC pukes to play themselves– as the brave members of the press who “tell truth to power.” Ha!
didn’t another “countries leader” make movies that aided his takeover… oops I mean democratic election? I’m sure of it though I forget “his” name! Was he in Europe? What the heck was that guys name?
And wasn’t “he” also a “foreigner” in the country that “he” was the ruler of? I think he was actually a Australian (or Austrian or Albanian or something). Was I dreaming?
And the reason I mentioned the other countries is because if its OK for a dictator… ooops again, I meant a President to make movies build up his patriotic image then it should be OK for Obama to create Patriotic Propaganda Films too.
George Washington would have surely made a Movie about his crossing the Delware if the technology had existed at the time. And Abrahan Lincoln would have probably directed the first “Civil War” flick if he could have done so.
So whats wrong with Obama giving out Top Secret Military info to Hollywood if it gets him re-elected?
Ah, yes, bending the rules, and then there is that little matter of the Fed keeping interest rates at zero until 2013 (coincidentally until after the presidential election), doubtless to meet its twin institutional obligations to insure general price stability (never mind a declining dollar) and full employment (never mind the increasing unemployment). Obviously fixed income senior citizens deserve to get financially raped on their savings to better get a democratic president elected.
Follow the money. Who is paying for this?
The SEALS shot the Somali hijackers after their ship’s Commanding Officer gave them a weapons release order. That was not cleared with the White House and was done in defiance of repeated orders not to use lethal force before the hijackers did or were provably about to. The result was a left wing orgy of persecution of the SEALS. Remember the prosecution for punching a detainee?
I get pleasure from, cause I found exactly what I used to be having a look for. You’ve ended my 4 day lengthy hunt! God Bless you man. Have a nice day. Bye
”In 2008, Milt Bearden told Dan Rather that the “myth of Osama bin Laden” was created by the US government. At first bin Laden was sold as an asset when he worked with the CIA against the Russians in Afghanistan. Then he became the go-to bogeyman leader of an “extremist terrorist group called Al Qaeda”…all propaganda.
Read this: http://www.activistpost.com/2012/05/obama-gives-hollywood-director-access.html