By Heather Cottin, Peoples Video Network
"Collateral Damage" is one of those one-man-against-the-bad guys Hollywood action movies that cost millions to make but are a dime a dozen. The premise involves a firefighter, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, who takes revenge for the deaths of his family in a Colombian "terrorist" bombing in Los Angeles.
Although Colombian guerrillas have never engaged in such a bombing, the movie makes it appear that this is their MO.
The film was released just in time to prepare U.S. filmgoers for the vicious bombing of the demilitarized zone in Colombia initiated by the Pastrana government. No doubt Washington gave the go-ahead for both the film and the bombing. Having made the guerrillas appear to be terrorists in the movie, there could be little opposition from people here who are now primed to believe the lies "Collateral Damage" perpetuates.
There is nothing factual about the movie at all, but theatergoers may not know that. The movie depicts the Colombian guerrillas as wanton killers of innocent civilians, although as recently as Feb. 25 Newsday reported that three quarters of all the people who have died so far in the guerrilla war were killed by right-wing death squads. The movie also links the guerrilla army with cocaine production--another distortion of reality.
Paramilitary death squads are missing from the plot, as is their relationship with the Colombian military and Washington.
When Bush declared 2002 the "war year," he claimed that Colombia was a terrorist stronghold, thus justifying his Plan Colombia. "Collateral Damage" is propaganda that furthers U.S. designs for an escalation of this war.
The only good news here is that audiences were bored by "Collateral Damage." In the theater this reviewer went to, people filed out complaining about the inanity of the actors and the stupidity of the plot. Reviewers didn't like it either. CNN.com gave the film an "F," saying succinctly, "The movie stinks." We agree.
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