Posted on 07/14/2003 7:57:20 AM PDT by Wondervixen
"Here in the UK no one gets upset, but over there, where the President is fighting these military campaigns in the name of democracy, the first casualty seems to be freedom of speech, the cornerstone of any democracy."
- BUFFALO SOLDIERS Director Gregor Jordan
The WALT DISNEY CO. is set for maximum controversy when it releases a "warts-and-all" portrait of U.S. Army life with the fuss-film BUFFALO SOLDIERS.
s American men and women put their lives on the line in Iraq and other locations throughout the world, DISNEY and its subsidiary MIRAMAX have set a July 25 opening for the story of enlisted man running a profitable drugs and stolen goods business out of an Army base!
[A promo snap for the film -- "Steal all that you can steal," a riff on the US Army's own pseudo-empowering "Be all that you can be" slogan, while below actor Joaquin Phoenix stands before an American flag -- comes as TIME magazine alleged in a cover story that American troops looted and vandalized the Baghdad airport after it was secured.]
The film's director Gregor Jordan describes SOLDIERS as a robust satire illustrating the corruption, drug use and violence that goes on in US Army bases.
At the film's open, a painted US flag is on the ground and is stepped on by marching soldiers.
The film features an excessive amount of profanity by senior officers, suggestive sex [oral sex in bed, sex in a car, sex in a swimming pool], theft of government property, and rampant drug use by soldiers.
Actor Phoenix explains, "I don't know why anyone would be offended. It wasn't a movie that was intended to offend. And if we don't show things as they really happen, then what's that about? Censorship!"
This movie sounds like it's a step way beyond "Stripes" in that it's a serious attack on our military.
I simply made a distinction between your drawing parallels with certain films and this one.
Further, your argument regarding "there are no sacred cows" sounds like same one we hear Hollywood and Democrats. Yes, people can say what they like, but free speech is a two-way street. We have the right (and even the obligation to) rightly criticize movies that are nothing more than hit pieces on institutions that certain left-leaning companies and individuals target.
I have heard enough from Hollywood and Liberals who cry CENSORSHIP! if the criticism of what they spew is turned back on them (or even remotely questioned). It is utterly cowardly and childish.
Moreover, there is a distinction between "comedies" and movies such as this one, that seek to depict military individuals in the worst possible light in a very realistic fashion.
Do you still not see this?
Do you still not see this?
Yeah -- I think I see it. You -- for some reason -- feel that (serious) movies should portray the military in only a favorable way.
I couldn't care less. It's a movie. But then, I've never been accused of being thin-skinned.
Put it in or don't...your choice. It's not censorship if you leave it out. Only the government can censor.
There was a serious drug problem in all branches back in the 70s/80s, but things have gotten much much better (drug testing, standards, etc.).
The best thing that will happen to this movie is it will flop, and lose Miramax a lot of money, teaching them a valuable lesson.
Answer me this: do you think any studio (Mirmax, Icon Productions, Universal, etc) would put out a picture today that depicted gays and lesbians in an unfavorable way?
Secondly, do you know the history of the real Buffalo Soldiers?
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