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Movies About Americans Acting Badly

October 29th, 2007
By SHAUN MULLEN, TMV Columnist

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A Scene From Taxi to the Dark Side

Coming to a theater near you just in time for the holidays: Movies about Americans acting badly.

Film-makers are on a roll these days with movies like Taxi to the Dark Side, Rendition and Redacted. All have gotten generally good reviews at screenings but won’t compete with forthcoming biggies like a remake of Revenge of the Nerds and will raise the usual howls of protest that Hollyweird is run by America-loathing liberals, Clint Eastwood excepted, of course.

The story of a young taxi driver in Afghanistan falsely accused of being a terrorist provides the framework for Taxi to the Dark Side, a documentary examination of U.S. torture policies.

Rendition is the story of an Egyptian born terrorism suspect who disappears on a flight from South Africa to Washington and CIA analyst who is forced to question his assignment in an attempt to save thousands as he becomes a party to the torture of the Egyptian.

And veteran director Brian De Palma offers a montage of stories about U.S. soldiers in Iraq in Redacted, a docudrama that focuses on the gang rape-murder of Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi and killing of her family in Mahmoudiyah in March 2006, an outrage that I have blogged about at length.

With the Bush administration providing a steady supply of grist, expect more movies about Americans acting badly.



This entry was posted on Monday, October 29th, 2007 at 4:46 am and is filed under Bush Administration, Torture, Iraq, Afghanistan, Movies. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

 
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