On films that tackle terror with comedy

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On films that tackle terror with comedy

Reuters | Tuesday, 21 February , 2006, 14:40

Berlin: Film makers are increasingly turning to the war on terror for inspiration, using drama, documentary and even comedy to tackle a topic that has dominated political debate since the September 11 attacks in 2001.

It began with Michael Moore and "Fahrenheit 9/11," a personal attack on the U.S. administration which not only won the coveted Palme d'Or in Cannes but amassed $220 million at the box office, a record for a documentary. Since then George Clooney has starred in "Syriana," looking at U.S. policy in the Middle East and the corruption within the oil industry, and Steven Spielberg questioned the wisdom of seeking revenge on those regarded as terrorists in "Munich." The Berlin film festival, which wound up on Sunday, featured three more pictures that tackled the topic directly or indirectly, and there are at least two movies in the making that will attempt to reconstruct the actual events of September 11. "I think there is more of a sense among even relatively mainstream filmmakers like George Clooney that a stand needs to be taken," said Lee Marshall, critic at Screen International. "I don't think it's a purely idealistic trend, because I think commercially films like 'Munich' or 'Good Night, and Good Luck' have an audience. There's a feeling that you can almost have your cake and eat it now." In Berlin, Britain's Michael Winterbottom showcased his "The Road to Guantanamo," a stinging critique of the U.S. military prison based on the real life stories of three men held there for over two years without charge. At the other end of the stylistic spectrum came Italian director Roberto Benigni's "The Tiger and the Snow," a less judgmental, at times even whimsical comedy played out in the unlikely setting of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

As he struggles to keep his wounded girlfriend alive in a dirty Baghdad hospital, the main character finds his own weapon of mass destruction - a flyswat. In between came a provocative offering from the Wachowski Brothers in "V For Vendetta," starring Natalie Portman, a film based on a 1980s graphic novel featuring a hero who is a masked "terrorist" trying to bring down the British government.

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On films that tackle terror with comedy

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