Hollywood used to like a good patriotic storyline during wartime. Not anymore. They are about to release an avalanche of movies portraying Iraq vets in the worst possible light. Why are they doing this? For the same reasons Democrat politicians declare the surge a failure before it has begun, the same reason they declare the mission lost and give aid and comfort to our enemies. For cheap political points. At least they are not shy about it.
“Media in general responds much more quickly than ever before,†said Scott Rudin, a producer of “Stop-Loss.†“Why shouldn’t movies do the same?†He said his film was deliberately scheduled to be released in the middle of the presidential campaign season.
Today’s New York Times gives us a warning, er, preview of the coming distractions,
While Real Bullets Fly, Movies Bring War Home
Other coming films also use the damaged Iraq veteran to raise questions about a continuing war. In “Grace Is Gone,†directed by James C. Strouse and due in October from the Weinstein Company, John Cusack and two daughters struggle with the loss of a wife and mother who is killed on duty. Kimberly Peirce’s “Stop-Loss,†set for release in March by Paramount, meanwhile, casts Ryan Phillippe as a veteran who defies an order that would send him back to Iraq.
…In October, for example, New Line Cinema will release “Rendition,†in which Reese Witherspoon plays a woman whose Egyptian-born husband is snared by a runaway counterterrorism apparatus. Paul Greengrass, the director of “The Bourne Ultimatum,†in which the bad guys belong to a similar rogue unit, is adapting Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s book about the Green Zone in Baghdad, “Imperial Life in the Emerald City,†for Universal Pictures.
Brian De Palma’s “Redacted,†focusing on an Army squad that persecutes an Iraqi family, is to be released in December by Magnolia Pictures. And Sony Pictures is developing a film based on the story of Richard A. Clarke, the former national security official and Bush administration critic.
Among the new films, “Valley of Elah†is sure to be one of the most closely examined, thanks to Mr. Haggis’s credentials — he shared an Oscar for writing “Million Dollar Baby†and was nominated for another as co-writer of “Letters From Iwo Jima†— and because of his opposition to United States policy in Iraq.
“This is not one of our brighter moments in America,†Mr. Haggis said in a telephone interview from London, where he is still working on the film’s music. “We should not have gotten involved.â€
These Hollywood people disgust me. They have never met anyone who doesn’t agree with their world view. They live in a giant echo chamber. People don’t want to see this crap. Who are they kidding. It used to be that people like Jason Dunham and Paul Ray Smith would be the subjects of Hollywood movies. You know, actual war heroes. Not today. Like the MSM, they have no use for the true, inspirational stories of of the men and women fighting for us around the world.
This is exactly why we contacted Blackfive and asked him if we could bring his Someone You Should Know series to the radio. You can listen to dozens of stories about the amazing achievements, bravery, courage and valour of our soldiers, Marines and airmen here.
Screw Hollywood.