Posted on 07/13/2003 2:52:14 PM PDT by Paul Atreides
"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.
As 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 just days after 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 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!"
The movie studio has been receiving complaints from military insiders, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
One letter written by a retired Army Colonel warns of the film's racial overtones.
"Scenes show MP's, who are black, committing acts of violence and engaging in corruption," writes Col. Franklin J. Henderson. "These scenes, intentionally or unintentionally, provide a bad image of black soldiers and degrade the sterling service of the real 'Buffalo Soldiers' who were mostly black men."
Director Jordan was so concerned by the mood of the country during the most recent military activity in Iraq that he asked for the movie's release to be delayed.
"I thought, This is not the time to be putting this movie out. If we leave it a couple of months, the war'll be over and off all the front pages. Then we'll go."
Developing...
The last I've heard, he's working to get the peace process moving between Palestinians and Israelis. :-D
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!"
They could have shown ALL of these things in a movie about Bubba Clinton but they chose not to make that exploitive "tell all" movie. We were told that it was none of our business, it's just (rape) sex; his brother's own quote that Bill had a nose like a vaccuum cleaner was considered less reliable than some Star Trek biographer's book on George W. Bush. These people don't care about sex or drugs or theft. Rats lie. This is nothing but a stab at middle America.
Warts and all. I wonder if Hollywood has looked in the mirror lately. Airbrushing and frosted lenses can make it appear that actors have no blemishes but they (and we) know the truth.
Last I read, it was still Miramax financing Michael Moore.
"Is Disney Lying to America About Michael Moore?" (ABC-Disney-Miramax funding project)
The American version of this film still contains a "shadow" figure that was digitally inserted to block out the scenes of coitus at the orgy. This was done theatrically and on video.
The other nations of the world do not have this enhancement.
Never saw the movie but the ads sure featured the flag upside down.
This even happens in Congress and there are no films about it.
Is Miramax alledging that this is based on a true event?
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.
to read this -
The film features an excessive amount of profanity by noncomissioned officers, suggestive sex ['nuff said], redistribution of government property, and rampant alcohol use by soldiers.
I think you could paint a pretty accurate picture. That having been said, this movie doesn't give me a playful and irascible 'SGT Bilko' vibe. They're definitely out to sling some mud and portray it as 'commonplace'. I know of a drug running ring composed of supply sergeants that was busted a few years back, but that's not even a sizable minority. It's a bunch of criminals who happen to be soldiers.
The real military is not made up of saints and angels by any means, but reality doesn't appear to be too high on their agenda.
The website itself wouldn't paste and copy, but the information from an MSN search for buffalo soldiers brought this up. The website describes it as a comedy, based in Germany quite a few years ago. I'll give it a "pass" as a comedy, for now. It isn't based in current Afghanistan or Iraq, so I don't think it holds our soldiers up to disrespect.
Sorry, folks. It's a freedom of speech think. Individually, decide not to go. But this Dixie-Chicks mentality of trying to stop cultural things from happening that other people might want to see or hear is kind of not what tolerance and the Constitution are about.
Just thought I'd bring it up.
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