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Author Topic:   A riveting documentary of the recently assassinated Benazir Bhutto
pire
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posted May 15, 2011 05:18 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for pire     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Bhutto

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>>>>>>>>>>to watch the documentary, click here<<<<<<<<<<
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Benazir's legacy is ill-served by bias in an otherwise admirable film

A documentary about Benazir Bhutto, which premiered in London last night, makes for gripping but troublingly partial viewing - article by Huma Qureshi, Friday 27 August 2010, the guardian

This chilling roll call, which appears on the front cover of Fatima Bhutto's politicial memoir, Songs of Blood and Sword, reads like a trailer for a Hollywood thriller – so incredulous, that it couldn't possibly be true. But you can't make this stuff up.

Murder, corruption, assassination, exile and family feuds: if ever there was a political story that makes for superbly gripping viewing, it's definitely the Bhutto story. And now it's finally been translated to screen in Bhutto, a documentary film put together by an American political-consultant-turned director and production team.

At a time when both Pakistan's flood calamity and precarious politics dominate the global media landscape, Bhutto provides a condensed and comprehensive glimpse into the complexities of a nation with a chequered, chaotic history which the West has for so long struggled to understand. But even more rare, it gives a personal, detailed insight into the public and private life of one woman and her family's political and personal legacy.

It's certainly easier to comprehend the Bhutto story by watching it than reading about it (Fatima Bhutto's book is no light read). The film, which screened last night as part of the Indian Film Festival of London, has been painstakingly compiled from hours of interviews with Benazir Bhutto's friends, family and rivals and rare archived footage that makes you feel like you're witnessing history as it happens. There are commentaries from her husband, children, niece Fatima and also her sister, the only one of Benazir's siblings not to have been killed (a surreal accomplishment, if you can call it that). Political insights are provided by top journalists, including Tariq Ali and Reza Aslan; even Condoleeza Rice, and former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf make appearances. Eerily, most of the narrative comes from Benazir herself, her voice telling the story of her own doomed fate.

As far as a history lesson goes, it's very neat; anyone who's struggled with keeping up to speed with the many twists and turns of Pakistani politics will appreciate the chronological development which captures the pivotal turning points (clashes with India, Zulfikar's rise to power and subsequent downfall, the General Zia years, Benazir's first term as prime minister, Nawaz Sharif – and so on) that ultimately come to explain how President Zardari got to where he is today.

But it's hard to ignore the very obvious fact that this is one history lesson which is far from objective; put simply, the film is very pro-Bhutto and very pro-Zardari. After all, every thriller needs good guys and bad guys; here, the Bhuttos are the goodies (well, all but Murtaza, who is cast as temperamental jealous sibling), and the army generals the baddies.

For every one anti-Bhutto sentiment that Benazir's critical niece Fatima (Murtaza's daughter) utters, there are at least two pro-Bhutto comebacks; suffice to say, Fatima doesn't appear on screen all that much.

Meanwhile, Zardari in particular is cast in a disturbingly angelic light. The film paints a picture of a doting father and supportive husband (we learn how he wooed Benazir with chocolates), cruelly separated from his family and unfairly thrown in jail as a victim of the press and his wife's political opponents.

Mark Siegel, a close friend of Benazir's who appears frequently in the film (he helped write her autobiography and also happened to be one of the documentary's producers), also shrugs off Zardari's infamous "Mr 10%" nickname as nothing more than unfounded media victimisation (this bit particularly had some audience members shifting uncomfortably in their seats).

It doesn't take a genius to tell that Zardari, who banned the Pakistan press from screening any footage of the shoe-throwing scene earlier this month, has been somewhat airbrushed to perfection in this particular film. Naturally, this footage is something he wants to be seen – top politicians were invited to the Islamabad premiere held two months ago.

As a film about Benazir's life and family legacy, Bhutto is compellingly emotive. It's hard not to be touched by watching her young daughters, sitting side by side, talk about the last time they saw their mother, or indeed by hearing Benazir's voice crack as she herself talks of the last time she saw her father before he was hung, or how she found her younger brother, Shahnawaz, dead. As a portrait of a daughter, a mother, a sister and a wife, it's certainly quite a moving tribute.

But as a documentary film, should it be so blatantly one-sided? While to call it propaganda, as this Pakistani columnist did, might be taking it too far, it is nevertheless unashamedly biased. Perhaps that's only to be expected of a film called Bhutto made by and featuring Benazir's friends.

Either way, as anti-Zardari sentiment continues to grow, this film is sure to spark yet more Pakistani controversy – but it would be disappointing to let his presence shadow the fact the film ultimately tells a remarkable story of one woman's rise to power in an Islamic country; something that's never been done since.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2010/aug/27/benazir-bhutto-film

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