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February 10, 2006
Friday Film and Media Reads
I'm working on some other writing projects this afternoon but wanted to make sure I don't lose these links. First, Eric Alterman's Think Again column this week, "The War Goes On, Unreported," discusses the dangers that reporters in Iraq face in bringing us news about the war, an issue that's highly pertinent to the article I'm writing on Iraq War documentaries. The kidnapping of Jill Caroll and the injuries to ABC reporter Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt have provided this story with slightly greater visiblity, but as Alterman notes, 61 journalists--42 of them Iraqis--have been killed since the start of the war. In addition, many western news organizations have been gradually reducing their staff in Iraq, making it even more difficult to get the important "everyday stories" about the war from the perspectives of those people--soldiers and civilians alike--who are living it on a daily basis.
On a related note, David at GreenCine points to the Turkish movie, Valley of the Wolves – Iraq, which is poised to break Turkish box-office records. According to a Time magazine review, the film depicts "U.S. soldiers in Iraq as they raid a wedding, machine-gun the guests, and take survivors to a prison where a Jewish doctor removes their organs for rich people in the West." The film opens with a scene based on a real-life incident in which "11 Turkish commandos were detained by U.S. troops in the Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah." The incident provoked anti-American sentiment in Turkey, apparently reflected in the film (which, oddly enough, includes actors Billy Zane and Gary Busey). I haven't seen this film, but descriptions have certainly made me curious, even if it appears to be incredibly problematic politically.
Also from GreenCine, acquarello's review of Chris Marker's fascinating 1962 film, Le joli mai, made in the spring of 1962, soon after the beginning of the end of the French war with Algeria. I haven't watched Le joli maiin about six or seven years, but now certainly want to revisit it as soon as possible.
And since I'll be watching Why We Fight later tonight, I'll go ahead and link to Susan Gerhard's review of Eugene Jarecki's doc.
Finally, a movie preview for the suspense thriller, Sleepless in Seattle.
Update: Don't know how I missed this before, but this Hannah Eaves interview with Eugene Jarecki is also well worth checking out.
Posted by chuck at February 10, 2006 1:24 PM
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the chutry experiment recently publishes a lot of remarkable information on various projects and films on Iraq which attempt to catch up for a different angle than most of the media presents today. An update with collected links will follow later the d... [Read More]
Tracked on February 16, 2006 3:25 AM