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| India-Pakistan | ||||||
| Little audience for Zero Dark Thirty in Pakistan | ||||||
| 2013-02-21 | ||||||
| ISLAMABAD — Pakistan stars in Zero Dark Thirty, from early scenes at a detention site to the dramatic closing minutes as Navy SEALs assault the hideout of Osama bin Laden. But the Academy Award-nominated film about hunt for the Al Qaeda leader has sparked a controversy here about its portrayal of the country, and it will likely not be shown on the local big screen anytime soon. Partly, the film taps into national discomfort that Bin Laden was found to be living for years near Pakistan’s equivalent of West Point, and anger over the US decision to enter its airspace and raid the compound without giving advance notice. Doubts about whether Bin Laden was really hiding out for years in Abbottabad are also common across Pakistan, a country where conspiracy theories often have more weight than fact. But Pakistanis who have seen the film on DVD or Internet downloads are also making much of what they say are factual errors. Nadeem F. Paracha, a columnist for the English language newspaper Dawn and a cultural critic in Pakistan, noted that in some scenes characters speak Arabic,
In other scenes protesters get right up to the US Embassy gates when in reality the embassy is situated in an enclosed diplomatic enclave that demonstrators can’t access. Some scenes that were supposed to show Peshawar looked more like 19th century Delhi in India. “How can you make a Hollywood blockbuster, put in so much money and get simple things wrong?” Paracha asked. “Instead of the film being taken seriously, it became a joke among Pakistanis.” The movie traces the arc of the CIA’s decade-long hunt for Bin Laden through the eyes of a young female analyst, who spends most of her time ostensibly in Pakistan. Screenwriter Mark Boal visited Pakistan to do research, but the movie scenes were not shot here.
After it came out that Bin Laden had been living in Abbottabad and that the military failed to detect the American raiding party coming to get him, the once-revered Pakistan army found itself on the defensive. The film also highlights the cooperation between the CIA and Pakistan’s intelligence agency during the early years after the September 11, 2001 attack on the United States, a potentially embarrassing topic in a country with such vehement anti-American sentiment. Jamshed Zafar, one of the leading importers and distributors of foreign films in Pakistan, said he decided after discussions with friends that it wasn’t worth importing Zero Dark Thirty. “If you get into such controversy, you not only lose money but your reputation is also at stake,” he said.
The fact that neighbouring India — Pakistan’s arch rival — substituted for many of the Pakistani street scenes has also raised concerns, said Rashid Khawaja, a Lahore-based film producer and distributor. Until recently it was possible to purchase a DVD of the film in Islamabad. But at least two stores in the capital said in recent days that they stopped selling it because of rumours it had been banned. Another store was still selling the movie — albeit under the counter. In Abbottabad, the DVD is available at local video stores but hasn’t sold particularly well. “This movie is about Osama and Abbottabad, and still I honestly say people living here are not showing much interest in it,” said Akhtar Hussain.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 They helped write the script, why go see the movie. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-02-21 06:46 |
| #3 Because Pakistan supported ALQ and Taliban more than Afghanistan ever did. The WOT must involve the following three countries in order of importance Pakistan,Iran and Saudi Arabia. |
| Posted by: Mad Eye Tingle2712 2013-02-21 06:43 |
| #2 "Instead of the film being taken seriously, it became a joke among Pakistanis." We think its a comedy too. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2013-02-21 01:46 |
| #1 They'll watch it on pirated DVDs, like everything else. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2013-02-21 01:03 |