"How does one create a riot on film?"

"This is John Miller, reporting live from Khartoum . . . Go behind the cops and do it again," says the reporter in the soundtrack of a behind-the-scenes clip at the website of ABCs controversial forthcoming miniseries, "The Path to 9/11" Shades of Pallywood? No. This is the real thing, a "fake but accurate" product of Hollywood, Only this time, the shoe is on the other foot. From the script: "The rioting here deflects criticism that President Clinton is getting back home, where he is under fire from Republicans and media pundits accusing him of launching the cruise missile attacks in a vain effort to distract attention from the President's recent confession of his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky." No wonder Bubba's upset. Note inset of local extra above left, hamming it up for the camera.

"Hollywood stands accused of something it rarely is," says Brit Hume this evening, "aiding and abetting Republicans." The blogosphere is all over the story, the usual suspects coming down on the right or the left or somewhere in between. The Clintonistas are up to their old tricks again, doing their best to stifle free speech by intimidating ABC into either bowdlerizing or pulling its product, which threatens to tarnish the pristine Clinton "Legacy":

ABC's upcoming five-hour docudrama "The Path to 9/11" is quickly becoming a political cause célèbre.

The network has in recent days made changes to the film, set to air Sunday and Monday, after leading political figures, many [many? try all] of them Democrats, complained about bias and alleged inaccuracies. Meanwhile, a left-wing organization [aka the Democratic Party, as Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs points out] has launched a letter-writing campaign urging the network to "correct" or dump the miniseries, while conservative blogs have launched a vigorous defense.

The movie dramatizes what it deems intelligence and operational failures of the Clinton and Bush administrations, relying heavily on public records. Thomas Kean, the chairman of the 9/11 commission, served as a consultant.

"It is unconscionable to mislead the American public about one of the most horrendous tragedies our country has ever known," huffed former White House aide Bruce R. Lindsey -- head of the William  J. Clinton Foundation -- in a shameless attempt of his own to mislead the American public:

Top officials of the Clinton administration have launched a preemptive strike against an ABC-TV "docudrama," slated to air Sunday and Monday, that they say includes made-up scenes depicting them as undermining attempts to kill Osama bin Laden.

Former secretary of state Madeleine K. Albright called one scene involving her "false and defamatory." Former national security adviser Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger said the film "flagrantly misrepresents my personal actions" [could anyone misrepresent his personal actions more flagrantly that Sandypants himself?]

Unconscionable, indeed. Our favorite huffer was former White House anti-terror chief Richard Clarke, who "has made a career in retirement of blaming 9/11 on George Bush, while claiming he manfully tried to hunt bin Laden down until the last second of his government service," as Fox News puts it. Dr. Sanity, as always, gets the gist:

The truth will exist independently of whatever you or I feel about it. I'm content to let history decide. I am not willing to let those who have an axe to grind make the determination. It is insulting to even have to listen to their hysteria. I can make up my own mind.

"So, how does one create a riot on film?" asks the voiceover at ABC's riveting -- have you ever been rivited? -- multi-media "The Path to 9/11" website. The bit on "How to create a riot" is Pallywood without evil intent:

First off, you gotta to find the right location, and Morocco's an incredible place, and the town of Ouarzazate . . . The entire economy is made up of people who work in the movies . . . Some are second- and third-generation extras going all the way back to "Lawrence of Arabia." We are dressing up our camera teams so that they can be among the rioters . . . Really, it's up to the extras to create the energy . . . We've put some stuntmen there as well to throw Molotov cocktails and to blow up a car, hoping no one will get hurt . . . Our goal is that the film will be so authentic that you can't tell the difference between what we have filmed and what you would see on the news [there's a difference?] . . . We're basically we're going to light the fuse and see if we can get that same kind of energy that a mob mentality gives in any situation.

For the "real" thing -- false but inaccurate -- check out Richard Landes's "The Al Durah Trials: Portrait of French Culture at the Beginning of the 21st Century."

Comments

[Laura Lee Donoho]

Great post Sissy. It's unreal but not really surprising how repressive the Dems are. They realize that history (whether historians like it or not) is being taught in the movie theater or television screen instead of school.

It's not even called History anymore anyway but Social Studies. So if ABC runs the mini-series as is they break the hold Clinton and his Bruce Lindseys have on the media. This is a big deal.

I'm not confident that they won't give in to the Dems.

[goomp]

Is the MSM waking up? Does this documentary mean that they are beging to realize profits are declining because they are losing advertising as people other than the IMs are turning away from the unreal propaganda of the old MSM?

[Gayle Miller]

You don't understand - the Dems are the world's greatest proponents of "Do as I SAY, not as I DO!" and always have been. Even a remotely unbiased production will be offensive to them.

Remember when people tried to question John Kerry about what - if anything - he actually DID in Vietnam? "Are you questioning my patriotism?" was the instant response.

Because they are so prone to throwing out numerous unsubstantiated charges against their opponents, they possess the ultimate thin skin for their own precious selves, assuming that everyone else is as cynical and venal as the Dems really are!

[Gayle Miller]

I have e-mailed ABC and informed them that if they cave, I will NEVER watch their network again - and then I listed the shows I watch to make my point crystal clear!

[sigmund, carl and alfred]

Good post- but you are far too kind.

I unloaded this AM because we seem to have reached a point where the Clintons- and their trail of convicted felon cronies, are now regarded as credible.

And the dems are reveling it all.

Absurd.

[hnav]

Time will ultimately be the crushing blow to the Clinton facade...

Someday, the unethical manipulation will no longer be able to keep the truth hidden (from many who are blind and denial).

Besides, Sandy Berger cannot continue to stuff items down his pants forever.