Sunday, October 15, 2006
Real 'guerrilla film-making' in Europe
guer‧ril‧la /gəˈrɪlə/ 1. a member of a band of irregular soldiers that uses guerrilla warfare, harassing the enemy by surprise raids, sabotaging communication and supply lines, etc.When the fleshy millionaire Moore raved and spittled against George Bush at the Academy Awards a few years ago, only the passion of his animus was surprising. The venue could hardly have been more mainstream.
Moore's motivation was widely interpreted as at least partly venal: he was, effectively, then previewing a new anti-Bush film.
The country he made the film and his fortune in guarantees him free speech.
This was underlined when he very publicly visited a Republican convention - an action that was also interpreted by some as publicity-motivated (and went without incident). Still, Moore has been romanticized as a 'guerrilla film-maker'.
The g-word took off, like some of the other fashionable catch phrases we've seen shoot across the Internet in recent days: terms like 'nuclear club' and 'meltdown'.
Just as the nuclear club is fictitious, US-bashing 'guerrilla film-makers' operate everywhere and openly. A new movie will show George W. Bush being assassinated. 'V for Vendetta' alluded to him as a would-be Nazi-Christian-theocrat suppressing Islam.
Meanwhile, in the real world, Ayaan Hirshi Ali is making a new film. It criticizes Islam. It's a sequel to "Submission", the film made by Theo Van Gogh. Theo's not around to make the sequel, because after making the original he was fatally staked in the heart by an Islamist chanting "Allah Hu Akbhar".
Ali, who since her involvement in that film has been protected by 24/7 security, told Der Spiegel (and me via Michelle Malkin and AEI ):
We're forced to produce the film under complete anonymity. Everyone involved in the film, from actors to technicians, will be unrecognizable.Now that's guerrilla film-making.
Especially in a world where so many others are too scared to stand up to the fanatics. Consider:
- That "Submission" still isn't being shown in theaters (even after the film-maker was murdered by some gorilla);
- After (private!) British broadcaster ITV aired a 1980 documentary about the stoning of a Saudi Arabian princess who had allegedly committed adultery, Riyadh intervened and the British government issued an apology;
- After 1987 when (Dutch comedian) Rudi Carrell derided (Iranian revolutionary leader) Ayatollah Khomeini in a comedy skit (that was aired on German television), the Dutch government kowtowed;
- In 2000, a play about the youngest wife of the Prophet Mohammed, titled "Aisha", was cancelled before it ever opened in Rotterdam.
- This year, a Berlin opera house canceled the Mozart classic Idomeneo because it feared Muslims would react violently to a scene featuring Mohammed's severed head.
Then there were the Danish cartoons. Then the Pope incident. As Ali says:
"We are constantly apologizing ... Meanwhile, the other side doesn't give an inch."Peter Beinart said in TNR regarding the Idomeneo closure:
Last week, (on the web) Germans declared that free speech was under siege. ... Right-wing websites buzzed. And, on the big liberal blogs, virtual silence.
... (T)he Idomeneo closure just didn't get liberal blood flowing. And why is that? Perhaps because it didn't have anything to do with George W. Bush.
… (M)any liberals seem unable to conceive of a struggle in which the Republican right is not an enemy but an ally. But there are such struggles … Free speech is under threat, and Idomeneo should be the last straw. It is time, once again, to close ranks.
Inshallah and Amen.
