ABC's Untrue Path -- "Docudramas" are the worst draft of history.

Opinion Journal ^ | Sept. 11, 2006 | John Fund

[PDR]

Five years after 9/11, it's easy to find partisan divisions. But here's an issue we should be able to agree on: Docudramas--the portrayal of real events and people by actors--are a poor way to teach children and adults history. It's especially iffy to take dramatic license in telling the story of events in which many of the principal players are still living, such as 9/11 or President Reagan's administration.

Just ask ABC. Last night, it aired the first part of a six-hour miniseries, "The Path to 9/11." Sandy Berger, who served as President Clinton's national security adviser, bitterly complained about a fictional scene in which he stopped CIA agents who were about to kill Osama bin Laden. Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright had similar complaints. Both persuaded ABC to alter the scenes involving them. It's not known if the network also altered scenes in tonight's installment that portray Bush administration officials such as Condoleezza Rice in a negative light.

The makers of docudramas always have smooth explanations for why they need to adjust history for the purposes of storytelling. Cy Nowrasteh, the screenwriter for "The Path to 9/11," told National Review: "The Berger scene is a fusing and melding of at least a dozen capture opportunities. The sequence is true, but it's a conflation. This is a docudrama. We collapse, condense, and create composite characters. But within the rules of docudrama, we're well documented."

That's the problem with docudramas. Their rules simply aren't good enough when dealing with events that are still fresh in the minds of so many. At worst, they can be used by ideological gunslingers like director Oliver Stone, who smeared the reputations of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon in paranoid fantasy films.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=11000892

[P-40]

the portrayal of real events and people by actors--are a poor way to teach children and adults history.

I'll agree with them there...but I don't know what the alternative is. Unless something goes on the TV...it might as well have never have happened.

[cvq3842]

I don't have a problem with criticism of the program.

What I DO have a problem with is Democrat officeholders threatening the FCC license of ABC.

THAT'S censorship.

[weegee]

REAL event portrayed by REAL participants:

They considered their roles to be a JOKE.

[frogjerk]

It's especially iffy to take dramatic license in telling the story of events in which many of the principal players are still living, such as 9/11 or President Reagan's administration.

No, they can refute it with facts. Unfortunately, the Klintoonites don't have facts on their side.

[msnimje]

Some of us do not use docudramas as teaching tools.

[dead]

My problem with docudramas is that the actors are always better looking than the actual people.

This is especially true of bad guys on "America's Most Wanted."

[msnimje]

Every time I see that picture I think Sandy Berger should be hanged at the WTC site.

[the anti-liberal]

I suppose John Fund expressed the same opinion about Moore's film, right?

[prion]

Why do we even need the word "docudrama"? Isn't every play or movie that is about real people and events but is recreated with actors a "docudrama"? And aren't there thousands of those? Hasn't that been a Hollywood staple since there was a Hollywood?

They all have to make changes from reality (if for no other reason than the constraints of time). Whether the changes constitute a distortion is a case-by-case thing.

[Dixie Yooper]

The woman who played Madeleine Albright should get an Emmy. Very believable.

[weegee]

Did John Fund denounce the film that pasted George Bush's head onto an actor's body for that assassination film?

[pissant]

John Fund is a hack.

[dfwgator]

Oh yeah, real documentaries like "Fahrenheit 9/11" are so much better. /sarcasm

[GoBucks2002]

Unfortunately, the Klintoonites don't have facts on their side.

They never have, they never will. What they DO have going for them is a compliant media, a leftist education establishment, and spineless political opposition.

[dirtboy]

The woman who played Madeleine Albright should get an Emmy. Very believable.

I heard they applied the actress's makeup with a Power Painter to get the right Mad Maddie look.

[traditional1]

"the portrayal of real events and people by actors--are a poor way to teach children and adults history. "

That's what's done every evening and morning on the MSM "news"....

[WoodstockCat]

I disagree with this assessment. If words are recorded from meeting notes and corraborated then acting them out is only repeating history.
The only thing I will agree with is taking 10 or 12 "chances" to get Bin Laden and trying to make one spectacular episode out of them.

[WoodstockCat]

Shirley Jones

[dfwgator]

At worst, they can be used by ideological gunslingers like director Oliver Stone, who smeared the reputations of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon in paranoid fantasy films.

I must say though, that Stone was actually fairly kind to Nixon at the end of the movie. Of course he had to show the clip of the Sinkmeister speaking at Nixon's funeral.