HURRAY FOR CENSORSHIP! Israeli groups to Academy Awards: Don't say Palestine

[alonzomourning23]

Now to clarify, they have not denounced the film for glorifying suicide bombers, for being anti-semitic or anything else. In fact, I haven't heard any mainstream criticism of the film to that effect, and Jewish Israeli's even worked on the film. The film was well recieved by Israeli critics and it seems to be essentially an anti-war/anti-violence film. But it has proved to be very controversial and many groups are trying to stop it from winning at the academy awards (as it did at the golden globes). Many groups and people have also denounced the academy awards for daring to mention the movie is from Palestine.

Powerful Israelis, Jews in Hollywood exert pressures on American Academy members, in a bid to prevent Palestinian movie Paradise Now from winning Oscar. Meanwhile, Israeli diplomats get Academy's commitment not to present film as representing Palestinian state
Itamar Eichner

Israel takes on Hollywood: Palestinian movie Paradise Now's win in the Golden Globe awards last month has aroused concern among many influential Israelis and Jews in Hollywood over the success of the Palestinian production that depicts the story of two suicide bombers on their way to carry out a terror attack in Tel Aviv.

These people have decided it was time to bring out the big guns and thwart any possibility Hany Abu-Assad's controversial movie gets an Oscar for best foreign movie in the upcoming Academy Awards, Israel's leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Sunday.

As a result, members of the American Academy for Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences who elect the winners were put under heavy pressure in recent days not to vote for a movie that depicts suicide bombers as humane, while powerful Israelis and Jews in the movie industry have exerted all their influence, albeit discretely, to hamper with the film's prospects of winning the prestigious award.

Diplomatic efforts

Meanwhile, sources at the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles have decided to take a different avenue and employ diplomacy in the affair.

Israeli officials, including Consul General Ehud Danoch and Consul for Media and Public Affairs Gilad Millo, have managed to extract a guarantee from the American Academy that Paradise Now will not be presented in the ceremony as representing the state of Palestine, despite the fact it is introduced as such in the Academy Awards' official website .

Consulate officials have asked Academy members to act with consideration and sensitivity, and abide by the fact the Palestinian Authority has yet to be announced a state.

However, sources at Israel's Foreign Ministry condemned attempts to hinder Paradise Now's chances in the Oscars, saying these efforts may tarnish Israel's international reputation as a state that advocates freedom of speech.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3214866,00.html

One thing though, if this movie doesn't win they we already have a conspiracy theory to explain why.

On a side note, I also have a growing hatred for idiots who hate movies and take it upon themselves to ruin the experience for everyone else. It seems the ones who hate movies for ideological reasons get kicks out of giving away the ending of a film in the first few lines of their article, which is usually the safe to read. It happened here, it happened with vera drake, and it happened with the merchant of venice (which I hadn't read), all of which I was reading to figure out if I should buy the film or not.

 

[mykevermin]

This won't do anything to stop the reification of those stereotypes about "hollywood political types" that people have. If anything, it will reify them.

Now, as for spoiling movies, there's a statute of limitations on some - c'mon, Shakespeare's several centuries old. Who was in the merchant of venice this time around (and what group was opposed to it, the ADL?)

 

[bmulligan]

I'm more concerned with people caring so much about the academy awards. They really have no 'meaning', per se, and are just an insider popularity contest. The fact that this film was even nominated has already done the real damage to israel becuase nobody ever remembers who wins anyway. All this politicking is a waste of energy. Don't they have more important things to worry about ?

 

[alonzomourning23]

[quote name='mykevermin']This won't do anything to stop the reification of those stereotypes about "hollywood political types" that people have. If anything, it will reify them.

Now, as for spoiling movies, there's a statute of limitations on some - c'mon, Shakespeare's several centuries old. Who was in the merchant of venice this time around (and what group was opposed to it, the ADL?)[/quote]

Al Pacino was Shylock. And it was just some random reviewer who was opposed to it. I watched the interviews section and I think it was an adaptation and not a direct reading of the play. This version looked like it was denouncing bigotry, the only time I got that it could be anti-semitic (and not just showing anti-semitism) was at the end. The rest of the time it seemed to cast a negative light on anti-semitism.

Though while it may be ok to give away old plays, that's usually with ones everyone has seen or read. Romeo And Juliet is one thing, but a lot of people have no idea what happens in the merchant of venice. Many probably never even heard of it.

 

[evanft]

Why do you hate Jews so much?

 

[kakomu]

[quote name='alonzomourning23']Al Pacino was Shylock. And it was just some random reviewer who was opposed to it. I watched the interviews section and I think it was an adaptation and not a direct reading of the play. This version looked like it was denouncing bigotry, the only time I got that it could be anti-semitic (and not just showing anti-semitism) was at the end. The rest of the time it seemed to cast a negative light on anti-semitism.

Though while it may be ok to give away old plays, that's usually with ones everyone has seen or read. Romeo And Juliet is one thing, but a lot of people have no idea what happens in the merchant of venice. Many probably never even heard of it.[/quote]
it was a direct reading of the play. As for the adaptation, I found it terribly annoying.