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Iraq Hollywood-Style

by | 17th, December 2004

‘HISTORY repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as a Hollywood movie with the Americans as all-conquering heroes.

‘Cut!’

Modern warfare has been compared to a giant computer game, at least by those who haven’t seen their family blown to smithereens or had their legs shot off.

But it is in the cinema where most of us experience the sanitised glory of battle.

And the Guardian reports today on Hollywood’s first foray into the second (and ongoing) war in Iraq – The Battle For Falluja.

The film, we are told, will be based on a not-yet-completed book by Bing West, a former US marine and now war correspondent.

It will take as its starting point the killing of four civilian contractors in Falluja and the resulting decision to order a full-out assault on the city.

The first attack (led by General Jim Mattis, to be played by Harrison Ford) was abruptly halted by the White House, but six months later a second attack was ordered just days after the recent US Presidential election.

That attack, in which 50 US marines and an estimated 1,000 Iraqis lost their lives, will no doubt be portrayed on the big screen as a stunning success that brought peace, freedom, democracy and Taco Bell to Iraq.

But, as the Guardian says, ‘it seems unlikely that the plight of the Iraqis will figure too prominently in Hollywood’s take on the subject’.

As the plight of the Iraqis seems to figure very little in the White House’s foreign policy, we would be surprised if Hollywood were any different.

But we should at least be thankful for small mercies – the Americans are at least playing Americans in this film.

We are still eagerly awaiting the release of Horatio, with Tom Cruise playing the legendary American admiral who overcame terrible disabilities to defeat the evil French at Trafalgar before dying in the arms of the man he loved…’



Posted: 17th, December 2004 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink