DATE=11/11/98
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-41827
TITLE=HOLLYWOOD / ISLAM
BYLINE=KATAYOUN BEGLARI
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: "THE SIEGE," AN AMERICAN FILM ABOUT ISLAMIC TERRORISTS IN
NEW YORK, HAS COME UNDER HARSH CRITICISM FROM THE ARAB-AMERICAN
AND MUSLIM COMMUNITY IN THE UNITED STATES. ANTI-DEFAMATION
ORGANIZATIONS ARE DISTRIBUTING LEAFLETS OUTSIDE THEATERS,
PROTESTING THE WAY ARABS AND MUSLIMS ARE PORTRAYED AS VILLAINS IN
THE FILM. V-O-A'S KATAYOUN BEGLARI HAS FILED THIS REPORT.
TEXT: DURING THE COLD WAR, POPULAR HOLLYWOOD FILMS PORTRAYED
COMMUNISTS AS "THE BAD GUYS," WHO WERE ULTIMATELY DEFEATED BY
HANDSOME, JAMES BOND-TYPE WESTERN "HEROES."
IN THE POST-COLD WAR ERA, AMERICAN FILM VILLAINS OFTEN ARE MIDDLE
EASTERN TERRORISTS, SOME OF WHOM RECITE THE KORAN AND PERFORM
ABLUTION BEFORE TRYING TO BLOW UP INNOCENT CIVILIANS.
"THE SIEGE" -- DIRECTED BY EDWARD ZWICK AND STARRING DENZEL
WASHINGTON, ANNETTE BENING AND BRUCE WILLIS -- IS THE LATEST FILM
OF THIS GENRE.
"THE SIEGE" TELLS OF THE DANGERS TO DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM WHEN
THE U-S MILITARY -- IN A SEARCH OF A TERRORIST CELL OPERATING IN
NEW YORK CITY -- IMPOSES MARTIAL LAW AND HERDS THE ENTIRE
ARAB-AMERICAN POPULATION OF BROOKLYN INTO A DETENTION CAMP.
THE DIRECTOR SAYS THE FILM'S CONCLUSION IS THAT PEOPLE SHOULD NOT
GENERALIZE ABOUT ARABS, OR ANY GROUP, BECAUSE OF THE ACTIONS OF A
FEW.
BUT IBRAHIM HOOPER, A SPOKESMAN FOR THE COUNCIL ON
AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS, WRITES IN THE NEW YORK TIMES
NEWSPAPER (TUESDAY) THAT HE BELIEVES THE MESSAGE MAY BE LOST ON
THE AVERAGE MOVIEGOER. OTHERS IN THE ARAB AND MUSLIM COMMUNITY
AGREE.
THE EGYPTIAN FILM STAR "YUSRA," WHO WAS A TARGET OF FANATICAL
MUSLIMS IN CAIRO THREE YEARS AGO, IS OUTRAGED BY WHAT SHE SEES AS
A NEGATIVE PORTRAYAL OF ARABS AND MUSLIMS IN AMERICAN MOVIES.
/// YUSRA ACT, IN ENGLISH ///
TERRORISM DOESN'T COME FROM ONLY ARABS OR FROM
MUSLIMS, IT IS ALL OVER THE WHOLE WORLD, DIFFERENT
NATIONS, DIFFERENT RELIGIONS AND FROM EACH PART OF
THE WORLD. THIS IS REALLY A VERY WRONG KIND OF
PICTURE THEY ARE TRYING TO GIVE ABOUT ARABS. AND I
WONDER: IF SOME JEWS ARE STILL TERRORISTS, WOULD
THEY DO THAT (MAKE MOVIES ABOUT THEM)?
/// END ACT ///
THE DIRECTOR OF "THE SIEGE," EDWARD ZWICK, SAYS ARABS ARE OFTEN
PORTRAYED AS TERRORISTS BECAUSE OF ARAB INVOLVEMENT -- OR ALLEGED
INVOLVEMENT -- IN WELL-KNOWN ATTACKS. HE CITES THE WORLD TRADE
CENTER BOMBING IN NEW YORK IN 1993, AND THE RECENT BOMBINGS OF
THE AMERICAN EMBASSIES IN TANZANIA AND KENYA.
HOWEVER, MR. ZWICK -- WHOSE FILMS INCLUDE "GLORY" AND "LEGENDS OF
THE FALL" -- SAYS THAT AS A DIRECTOR HE HAS TRIED TO TACKLE
CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES SUCH AS RACIAL OR ETHNIC PREJUDICE.
/// ZWICK ACT, IN ENGLISH. ///
THE MOVIE PRESUMES TO TALK ABOUT THE PREJUDICE. IT
TALKS ABOUT OUR OWN CAPACITY FOR RACISM, TALKS ABOUT
THE DILEMMA OF BEING AN AMERICAN PATRIOT WHO HAPPENS
TO BE ARAB OR MUSLIM, AND HOW DOES ONE DEAL WITH BAD
REALITY OF OUR OWN PREJUDICE?
/// END ACT ///
FILM DIRECTOR EDWARD ZWICK SAYS HE ALSO IS TRYING TO RAISE
QUESTIONS ABOUT U-S FOREIGN POLICY, SUCH AS PAST U-S SUPPORT FOR
MUSLIM FUNDAMENTALIST GROUPS IN AFGHANISTAN, WHICH MAY HAVE BEEN
INVOLVED IN HELPING BOMB THE WORLD TRADE CENTER.
/// ZWICK ACT ///
IT IS INTERESTING, I THINK, THAT THE MOVIE IS IN SOME
WAY MUCH MORE CRITICAL OF OUR OWN INVOLVEMENT, AND
YET THERE IS NO PROTEST ABOUT THAT. I THINK THIS
(FILM CRITICISM) REVEALS GREAT SENSITIVITY ON THE
PART OF THE AMERICAN-ARAB GROUPS; THEY HAVE INDEED
BEEN SO ILL-TREATED BEFORE. (BUT) I THINK IT IS
OVER-SENSITIVITY AND I THINK IT IS A NARROW
UNDER-ESTIMATION OF THE MOVIE, AND WHAT THE MOVIE
INSPIRES TO BE.
/// END ACT ///
// OPT // EGYPTIAN FILM STAR YUSRA SAYS FILMS BY ARAB DIRECTORS
-- EVEN BY INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED DIRECTORS, SUCH AS YUSSEF
CHAHIN, WHO HAS MADE FILMS ON RELIGIOUS FANATICISM -- ARE RARELY
SEEN IN THE UNITED STATES AND, THUS, THEIR MESSAGES ARE NOT
HEARD.
/// YUSRA ACT, IN ENGLISH ///
WHO IS GOING TO SEE IT IN HOLLYWOOD? AND IF THEY DO,
IN HOW MANY CINEMAS ARE THEY GOING TO BE SHOWN?
YUSSEF CHAHIN HAS WORKED 48 YEARS OF HIS LIFE AND HIS
FILMS HAVE NEVER BEEN DISTRIBUTED IN THE UNITED
STATES.
/// END ACT /// /// END OPT //
IT IS NOT JUST ARAB-AMERICAN GROUPS THAT HAVE TAKEN "THE SIEGE"
TO TASK. NEW YORK TIMES FILM REVIEWER JANET MASLIN WRITES THAT
WHILE THE FILM'S "SCREENPLAY IS STRENUOUSLY EVEN-HANDED ... THE
FILM'S STARK IMAGES OF SCHEMING ARAB VILLAINS OFTEN SPEAK LOUDER
THAN ITS DIPLOMATIC WORDS." AND CHICAGO SUN-TIMES REVIEWER ROGER
EBERT WRITES THAT "PREJUDICIAL ATTITUDES EMBODIED IN THE FILM ARE
INSIDIOUS, LIKE THE ANTI-SEMITISM THAT INFECTED FICTION AND
JOURNALISM IN THE 1930S."
MR. ZWICK, MOVIE PRODUCER LYNDA OBST AND SCREENWRITER LAWRENCE
WRIGHT ARE FRUSTRATED WITH THE REACTION TO "THE SIEGE." MR.
ZWICK SAYS, HOWEVER, HE WILL NOT SHRINK FROM ANY SUBJECT BECAUSE
SOME SAY IT IS HURTFUL, POLITICALLY SENSITIVE OR POLITICALLY
INCORRECT, OR -- AS HE PUTS IT -- "ISLAMICALLY INCORRECT."
THE CONTROVERSY DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE HARMING THE FILM
FINANCIALLY. SO FAR, PEOPLE ARE STILL PAYING TO SEE IT AT MOVIE
THEATERS IN THE UNITED STATES. (SIGNED)
NEB/KB/RRM/GE
11-Nov-98 3:30 PM EST (2030 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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