In her latest New York Times op-ed entitled "The Oscar for Best Fabrication" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/opinion/sunday/dowd-the-oscar-for-best-fabrication.html?_r=0), Maureen Dowd writes about the historical inaccuracies of three recent history-based films which have proven big box office hits: "Argo," "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Lincoln":
"The affable and talented Ben Affleck has admitted that [the climax of 'Argo'], with Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers jumping in a jeep, chasing the plane down the runway and shooting at it, was fabricated for excitement.
. . . .
'Zero Dark Thirty,' 'based on firsthand accounts of actual events,' has been faulted for leaving the impression that torture was instrumental in the capture of Osama.
. . . .
Joe Courtney, a Democratic congressman from Connecticut, recently wrote to Steven Spielberg to complain that 'Lincoln' falsely showed two of Connecticut’s House members voting 'Nay' against the 13th Amendment for the abolition of slavery."
I didn't see "Argo." The ongoing horrors of today's Iran (the stoning to death of women for alleged adultery, the hanging of homosexuals, the brutal oppression of Kurds and Baha'is, and the list goes on) are just too real for me, and I'm just not ready for a depiction of how the CIA outfoxed the Revolutionary Guard when the mullahs, in hot pursuit of their first atomic bomb, are currently making a sap out of Obama.
"Zero Dark Thirty"? I was impressed by what I managed to see and will buy the DVD to review the scenes that I missed.
"Lincoln"? An entirely different matter. I hate to be the first to whisper "the king has no clothes," but I thought the film was a stinker. Have another look at photographs of Lincoln at the beginning and end of America's Civil War, and there is no missing the distance between Daniel Day-Lewis's generally affable depiction of the 16th president of the United States and the depression-wracked reality of the haunted human being. I couldn't buy into it.
But then, I've never sought reality from Hollywood and have only asked for a few blessed moments of escapism.
[No need to call, Tony. The mullahs already want my head.]
One of Good movies this year... Not the best for sure. Made for America to appeasement in response to 9/11 attack. But more goof ups and 20 mins climax are the draw backs. And i agree India cannot make these type of movies letalone releasing here.
ReplyDeleteThe NYT (and NPR, and The Guardian ets.) are a perfect illustration of bigotry.
ReplyDeleteSomething happens in Israel - a housewife complaint her neighbors' dog, a teenager is unhappy with his parents, etc. and this NEWS goes immediately on the front page of the NYT, etc.
There is real and constant monstrosity somewhere else, BUT try to find it on the pages of the NYT etc.
Like James Fallows and his ilk, they just don't see Iran, Syria, slavery, brothels, stoning for being raped, lack of human rights for women, immigrants. The list is of course so long that I would have to spend a week just to list, but the problem according to the NYT, etc. is that Israeli dogs are bad, teenagers are unhappy, etc.
How different is this "paper" from "Pravda" which too was preoccupied with Israeli dogs and teenagers? And how different is this "paper" from "papers" in such charming places as Egypt, Syria, Libya, Pakistan, etc. which of course are also preoccupied with Israeli dogs and teenagers.