Kathryn Bigelow & Mark Boal Deny KILL BIN LADEN Is Propaganda For Obama's Re-election

In one of those head-scratching pieces you often read in major newspapers, Maureen Dowd at the New York Times wrote an op-ed article on Sunday declaring her belief that Barack Obama's time in the Whitehouse has been unfavourable (that's fine, she is allowed her opinion and many would agree) but then friviously drops into her piece that filmmakers Kathyrn Bigelow and Mark Boal are enjoying "top-level access to the most classified mission in history" for their forthcoming film Kill Bin Laden, suggesting that by allowing their eyes to see documents unseen by the masses, they will be swayed to make a propaganda film to get the U.S. President re-elected at the next election in October 2012, the same month the film is set to open. Here's what she said;

"The White House is also counting on the Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal big-screen version of the killing of Bin Laden to counter Obama€™s growing reputation as ineffectual. The Sony film by the Oscar-winning pair who made €˜The Hurt Locker€™ will no doubt reflect the president€™s cool, gutsy decision against shaky odds... Just as Obamaland was hoping, the movie is scheduled to open on Oct. 12, 2012€”perfectly timed to give a home-stretch boost to a campaign that has grown tougher€It was clear that the White House had outsourced the job of manning up the president€™s image to Hollywood when Boal got welcomed to the upper echelons of the White House and the Pentagon and showed up recently €” to the surprise of some military officers €” at a C.I.A. ceremony celebrating the hero Seals.€

Perhaps even more ludicrous than Dowd's misguided piece (what she seems to be forgetting is Mark Boal is a journalist who wouldn't be swayed one way or the other and is making the picture with Kathryn as a dedication to the brave marines) is Representative Peter T. King, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security coming out and calling for an investigation into the White House's ties with the film. Clearly he thinks we are in Nazi Germany and this is like Adolf Hitler working alongside Leni Riefenstahl or something. Since this story broke, White House spokesman Jay Carney has issued a statement deny the story, calling the accusations made by Dowd as being "ridiculous" and that certainly no classified information was shared with the filmmakers before Boal and Bigelow released a statement;

€œOur upcoming film project about the decade long pursuit of Bin Laden has been in the works for many years and integrates the collective efforts of three administrations, including those of Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama, as well as the cooperative strategies and implementation by the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency,€ the statement said. €œIndeed, the dangerous work of finding the world€™s most wanted man was carried out by individuals in the military and intelligence communities who put their lives at risk for the greater good without regard for political affiliation. This was an American triumph, both heroic and non-partisan, and there is no basis to suggest that our film will represent this enormous victory otherwise.€

One interesting point that has been raised from this piece is something I mentioned earlier in the year and that's whether Kill Bin Laden, the motion picture that will include the 40 minute take-down of the Al Qaeda leader, will include scenes of Obama's administration watching the events unfold. And the deeper question of whether the film SHOULD have these inter-cutting moments or whether it should stay firmly with the Navy Seals, as I believe it should. Kill Bin Laden begins filming next month.