Redford demands apology over Iraq

BBC News ^ | January 19, 2007 | Staff

[MadIvan]

Hollywood legend Robert Redford has called on US leaders to apologise for the war in Iraq.

The actor was speaking at the start of the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, where the opening movie recalled protests over the Vietnam war in 1968.

Redford said he, like many others, had shown a "spirit of unity" with the US government after 11 September 2001.

"We put all our concerns on hold to let the leaders lead," he said. "I think we're owed a big, massive apology."

The actor, whose Sundance Institute for independent film runs the annual festival, usually steers clear of political messages in his opening speech.

Festival opener Chicago 10 recounts the demonstrations surrounding 1968's Democratic National Convention, which saw protestors clash with the National Guard.

Using a cutting-edge blend of historical footage and animation, director Brett Morgen's film examines the trial of the famed "Chicago Seven," who were convicted of inciting riots.

Morgen, who took the stage to a standing ovation after the screening, said one of his goals in making the film was to "mobilise the youth in the country to get out and stop this war".

His film is one of many referencing the Iraq conflict at this year's Sundance festival.

Ghosts of Abu Ghraib deals with the abuses that occurred in an Iraqi prison in 2003, while No End In Sight is an examination of the Bush administration's conduct in the country.

Taboos broken

The programme for the festival has attracted controversy with the inclusion of films that include shocking sexual content.

A documentary called Zoo deals with the practice of bestiality.

And the dark drama Hounddog portrays the rape of a young girl, played by 12-year-old actress Dakota Fanning.

"Those are issues that are on the table, whether you want to face them or not," said Redford.

"If you don't expose these things, if you don't put the light on them, then they could get worse."

But the event also features many films with a more uplifting feel.

The Good Life, from writer and director Steve Berra, tells of a young man running an old cinema in a small town.

Padre Nuestro is about a young man who meets up with a group of illegal immigrants heading from Mexico to New York after he chooses to flee his criminal past.

More than 120 films will be screened throughout the 10-day festival, which ends on 28 January.

[RJL]

"We put all our concerns on hold to let the leaders lead," he said. "I think we're owed a big, massive apology."

I saw a couple pictures of Redford recently, what he really needs is a "big, massive apology" from his plastic surgeon.

[CDHart]

After reading on another thread about the kind of "entertainment" portrayed in the films for his festival, I have to say that he has more to apologize for than anyone else does.

Carolyn

[MrB]

As soon as the Left apologizes for all the damage and waste caused by the failed war on poverty, and as soon as they provide an exit strategy from it.

[TYVets]

The left still hasn't apologized for loosing the Viet Nam War.

[xarmydog]

Yeah,you think it is bad,you do not ever want to see his face on a big screen TV in hi DEF.It will make you sick.The imperfections in his face will look like a newly found planet.When girls go crazy over his 'ruggedly' handsome looks,remember these people are the next generation leaders of our country.Be afraid,be VERY afraid!

[hinckley buzzard]

Hollywood legend Robert Redford....

Does he still have those bumps on his face?

[Neoliberalnot]

Spoken like an actor with a syphilis-ridden brain, Redford neglected to suggest the mass murderers of 2900 innocents apologize too. Comments from hollywood since 911 have only revealed a deeper level of stupidity than I ever imagined.

[Centurion2000]

Hollywood legend wash-up Robert Redford has called on US leaders to apologise for the war in Iraq.

There ... now it's fixed.

[MrB]

That's because they're proud of that. America got "knocked down a notch".

[Wolfstar]

The way to become a "legend" in Hollywood is to get old. In Redford's case, not only is he aging, but his once-handsome face looks like the Picture of Dorian Gray come to life.

[Wolfstar]

Gorgeous woman, Veronica Lake.

[Liberty Valance]

Ben stein says it much better than I can...

"How can a man or woman who makes an eight-figure wage and lives in insane luxury really be a star in today's world, if by a star we mean someone bright and powerful and attractive as a role model? Real stars are not riding around in the backs of limousines or in Porsches or getting trained in yoga or Pilates and eating only raw fruit while they have Vietnamese girls do their nails.

They can be interesting, nice people, but they are not heroes to me any longer. A real star is the soldier of the 4th Infantry Division who poked his head into a hole on a farm near Tikrit, Iraq. He could have been met by a bomb or a hail of AK-47 bullets. Instead, he faced an abject Saddam Hussein and the gratitude of all of the decent people of the world.

A real star is the U.S. soldier who was sent to disarm a bomb next to a road north of Baghdad. He approached it, and the bomb went off and killed him.

A real star, the kind who haunts my memory night and day, is the U.S. soldier in Baghdad who saw a little girl playing with a piece of unexploded ordnance on a street near where he was guarding a station. He pushed her aside and threw himself on it just as it exploded. He left a family desolate in California and a little girl alive in Baghdad.

The stars who deserve media attention are not the ones who have lavish weddings on TV but the ones who patrol the streets of Mosul even after two of their buddies were murdered and their bodies battered and stripped for the sin of trying to protect Iraqis from terrorists.

We put couples with incomes of $100 million a year on the covers of our magazines. The noncoms and officers who barely scrape by on military pay but stand on guard in Afghanistan and Iraq and on ships and in submarines and near the Arctic Circle are anonymous as they live and die. I am no longer comfortable being a part of the system that has such poor values, and I do not want to perpetuate those values by pretending that who is eating at Morton's is a big subject."

~ Ben Stein ~


Redford and his band of navel gazers are the ones that need to apologize.

[MeekMom]

re: 4
hee hee hee!!
No doubt.

[MeekMom]

re: 34
Yeah! I love watching her on screen. She's awfully pretty.

[lormand]

Amen bro.

I'm sticking it to Hollyweird, though I cannot say how.

[MeekMom]

re: 69
Excellent!

[Calpernia]

>>>Does he still have those bumps on his face?

I think that was for compliance with the American Disability Act. A blind person joined his fan club.

[areafiftyone]

Besides financially we can stick it to Hollywierd by making sure Republicans get elected in 2008.

[LisaMalia]

These Hollywood idiots are playing right into the terrorists hands.

It's almost like we're not just fighting Al Quida anymore, our fight is against the MILLIONAIRE pseudo celebrities who's pockets we poor saps have lined over the years.

[Armedanddangerous]

How about an I'm sorry for The Electric Horseman?

And that bad plastic surgery job of his?