Hollywood takes on Iraq as public opinion shifts

M & C Movies ^ | 3/24/06 | Andy Goldberg

[jmc1969]

With support for George W Bush's war in Iraq at an all time low, some of the biggest names in Hollywood are working on movies that are likely to increase criticism even further.

In the last month, three of Hollywood's most respected directors have announced projects that are directly based on experiences of US personnel in Iraq.

Paul Haggis, whose movie Crash recently won the best movie Oscar, is planning a movie based on the best-selling memoir, Against All Enemies. The book by former anti-terrorism czar Richard Clarke chronicles how the obsession of Bush and other government leaders with invading Iraq led them to ignore warnings of Al Qaeda terror attacks prior to September 11 2001, and then to bungle attempts to capture Osama bin Laden and eradicate his movement.

Meanwhile Kimberley Pierce, who directed Oscar-winner Hillary Swank in the movie Boys Don't Cry, is set to start shooting Stop Loss, about a Texas soldier who refuses to return to Iraq and fight.

Irwin Winkler, the veteran producer of movies like Raging Bull and Rocky, is developing a project called Home of the Brave which will feature Samuel L Jackson as a soldier who struggles to readjust to life in America after an extended tour of duty in Iraq.

Robert Thompson, a professor of popular culture at Syracuse University, says this willingness of Hollywood to make movies about an ongoing war is unprecedented.

Thompson says that it is no coincidence that this wave of movies is coming out as public opinion has turned decidedly against the war. Until recently the mass media was scared to address the war for fear of being labelled unpatriotic.

'That has certainly changed. With the president at a 36 per cent approval rating all of a sudden a movie that challenges the war is a demographically sound idea,' he said.

Thompson dismisses the oft-used conservative argument that Hollywood is out of touch with mainstream America, and he maintains that the media establishment is actually much better than the politicians at getting its message across.

'In the culture war for the American heart, Hollywood is a lot better than Washington at communicating with us,' he says. 'Whether these movie are influential or not depends on the movie. If the movie tells a compelling story, it could have an enormous influence on public opinion.'

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Robert Thompson, a professor of popular culture at Syracuse University, says this willingness of Hollywood to make movies about an ongoing war is unprecedented.

Guess he never watched "They were expendable", "December 7th" or"The Battle of Midway".

So I must conclude that the "professor of popular culture" means that he only knows what happened in the past five minutes.

That seems to be pretty much par for the course anymore.

[SAMS]

"Robert Thompson, a professor of popular culture at Syracuse University, says this willingness of Hollywood to make movies about an ongoing war is unprecedented"

This nutter seems to have forgotten about Hollywood in the 40's, but then again, they weren't turning out movies that trashed Roosevelt or our miitary.

[kevkrom]

Paul Haggis... is planning a movie based on... Against All Enemies. The book by.. Richard Clarke

A movie about the "experiences" of a proven liar and borderline megalomaniac.

Meanwhile Kimberley Pierce... is set to start shooting Stop Loss, about a Texas soldier who refuses to return to Iraq and fight.

And here, they will be glorifying a deserter.

[Beckwith]

I like Samuel L Jackson but using a 58 year old actor to portray "as a soldier who struggles to readjust to life in America after an extended tour of duty in Iraq" demonstrates how unreal Hollywood really is.

The average age of the military man is 19 years, making Jackson 39 years his senior.

Robert Thompson, a professor of popular culture at Syracuse University, says this willingness of Hollywood to make movies about an ongoing war is unprecedented. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Hollywood made dozens, if not hundreds of war films during WW II supporting the country, its troops and its mission.

My guess is he's anti-war and has never gone to war films except for the ones like Born On the Fourth of July.

Some that come off the top of my head:

Bataan and Back to Bataan, Sergeant York, They Were Expendable, Guadalcanal Diary and Marine Raiders,

[Denver Ditdat]

A Yank in the RAF, Air Force, The Fighting Seabees, The Flying Tigers, Crash Dive, The Fighting Sullivans, Destination Tokyo, Gudalcanal Diary, Objective Burma, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, Casablanca, Mrs. Miniver...

Those are off the top of my head. I'm doubtless forgetting a bunch more.

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the ping.

[Beckwith]

There's a ton of them and they all supported the war effort and our troops.

Which goes to show that Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University, has his head up his butt and has no idea what he's talking about.

Although the operative word is professor of "popular' culture.

Anything done by a Republican is not very popular with the liberal educational establishment.