Over on Pajamas, we have another article I am proud of [oh, shut up-ed. give me a second], Drima of Sudanese Thinker’s Wild Parties in Sudan. We are working very hard to expand our global spread via the blogosphere to give people something they wouldn’t get elsewhere. We hope you appreciate it. Finding and publishing such things take up a lot of my time nowadays.
Meanwhile, what used to take a lot of my time has a way of encroaching on my present reality. Apparently, someone I used to know…Brian DePalma… may have resurrected his career, seemingly scoring a hit at the Venice Film Festival with his new film “Redacted.” The subject is a particularly gruesome real-life rape case, concerning a 14-year old Iraqi girl raped by US servicemen who also murdered her family.
Now I don’t know the details of this case. (Some of the servicemen involved have been given long sentences and it sounds truly hideous.) Yet, according to Reuters, the film is halfway between documentary and fiction. This to me is a highly suspect form, especially when based on recent events (2006), which are more verifiable than most. You would think the truth would be enough.
But what interests me more is Brian’s selection of material and his intention, as he states it, to stop the war. “The pictures are what will stop the war. One only hopes that these images will get the public incensed enough to motivate their Congressmen to vote against this war,” he said.
Really? Does DePalma really think that the American public doesn’t realize that such things occur in war on all sides and always have? No doubt a few American troops raped German and French women, murdered innocent people, etc. during World War II. War is Hell. Who disputes that?
So why would DePalma choose to tell this story now?
Propaganda, of course. But there’s a bit more. We are all creatures of our times and of our great successes. This is perfectly human. DePalma, quintessentially a man of my generation, equates Iraq with Vietnam not just because he may think they are the same (ridiculous as that is) but because Vietnam made him the man he is today. In other words, he was able to live a fantastic Hollywood life (even with the normal vicissitudes),including the fancy houses, cars, women, etc., by being a “groovy” man of his generation – militantly opposed to Vietnam War and for all traditional PC things. Why change? Indeed, why not drill down further into the old well when things aren’t as they once were. Why think about the specifics of the current situation or about history? They would only disrupt personal progress.
(For the record, I have not seen the movie, am only going on reports. )
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