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Yasser Arafat |
If Oliver Stone isn’t careful, he will soon solidify his position as Hollywood’s resident anti-establishment filmmaker. However, if Stone’s body of work is any testament to his feelings on that issue, he probably doesn’t care what people think of him.
Most recently Stone completed a documentary on Cuban president Fidel Castro entitled Comandante in which Stone condensed some 30 hours of interview footage into an hour and half of riveting, autobiographical documentary.
As if Castro weren’t controversial enough a figure to devote a feature length film to, Stone’s next project tackles Yasser Arafat who, in America, rarely receives a sympathetic ear in the face of overwhelming support for Israel. It will be interesting then to see how Stone will handle the project.
In March of 2002 Stone visited Arafat at his West Bank headquarters and interviewed him. Since then, the total length of film footage for the project has grown to some 80 hours.
Speaking to the BBC back in March, Stone said that his motivation in tackling the murky waters of Middle East politics was rooted in a search for "long-term classical values: what your life was like, what the meaning of your suffering was, what regrets you have."
There is no doubt that Arafat, embattled as he has been, has some regrets and most definitely has some thoughts on suffering, both his own as a leader and that of the Palestinian people. The question is how Stone’s film will portray these most personal of thoughts and feelings.
Despite the fact that the film, which is appropriately named Person Non Grata, has yet to be released, opposition has already made itself known from the usual suspects. According to the New York Post’s Pagesix.com, Israel is concerned about the film; and on the conservative website Worldnetdaily.com, Israeli diplomat Zvi Vapni was quoted as saying of the project: “People who might not sit and watch a documentary on Arafat for a minute will sit and watch if Oliver Stone’s name is on it. That is our concern. It will have a strong impact for many people.”
Israel and its supporters are rightly concerned, because Stone has, in the past, voiced strong support for the Palestinians and their cause. Speaking to Variety, as quoted by Pagesix.com, Stone noted that he “understands why [the] suicide bombers feel the way they do” and that “the Israelis have no business in the West Bank.”
Those are strong sentiments that the pro-Israel lobby would probably rather have left in the arena of marginalized left-wing protest rallies. Coming from a controversial yet powerful Hollywood filmmaker, the sentiments carry more weight.
With Comandante having just debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January, it is unclear as to when Persona Non Grata will be unveiled for the public. When it does hit screens, however, one can bet the discourse over it will be heated.
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