WASHINGTON:
Days before the first movie about the commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden airs for the first time on Television, director John Stockwell admitted that he had no official cooperation, adding that one may “never know the entire story”.
“SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden”, which was shot in Khopoli, India and Santa Fe, New Mexico, documents the May 2, 2011 raid on the former al Qaeda leader’s compound in Abbottabad.
“The fascinating thing for me... was how much internal conflict there was within the intelligence community, within the White House and the Department of Defence, and all the ways it could have turned out badly,” he said.
The 90-minute film will be screened on the National Geographic channel on Sunday.
Much of “SEAL Team Six “ was filmed before the publication in August of “No Easy Day,” written under a pseudonym by a member of the real-life SEAL team who claimed that Bin Laden was unarmed when he was killed.
“We know the ending [of the operation to kill Bin Laden], but even to this day I don’t have certainty on the beginning and the middle,” Stockwell said.
Stockwell spoke to current and former SEALs, intelligence personnel and White House officials as part of his research, but only off the record, with no way to double-check their information. “I certainly had no official cooperation and I had no official access to anything,” said Stockwell.
“The truth is, 10 years from now, we may not know the entire story of this mission... Who’s to say what the real, completely factual version is?”
Cam Gigandet stars as the leader of the tight-knit SEAL team that also includes rapper Xzibit. Kathleen Robertson portrays an intense CIA analyst. Bollywood stars Maninder Singh and Rajesh Shringarpore play local CIA operatives who risk their lives staking out Osama’s compound in Abbottabad.
Cast as Bin Laden is Yon Kempton, who speaks no lines before he is shot twice and killed in a dark room with a Kalashnikov in his hand.
Just in time for US vote?
“SEAL Team Six” raised eyebrows when it was announced last month that it would screen for the first time on the National Geographic cable channel just two days before America votes. But, in an interview on Friday, Stockwell shrugged off suggestions that his film is some kind of prime-time Obama propaganda tool to sway voters less than 48 hours before polls open.
“It was never written or shot to do that,” he told AFP.
“Are there people out there who don’t know that it was on this president’s watch that Osama bin Laden was killed, and that this movie informs them of that? I would be surprised.”
The May 2011 dead-of-night operation by US Navy SEALs against the al Qaeda leader was a defining moment of Obama’s first term.
The president turns up often in the film but only in the form of archive footage – much of it pulled from the White House website.
Stockwell said it was the National Geographic Channel that picked Sunday as the premiere date.
“It has only one goal, and that is for as many people as possible to watch this,” added Robertson, speaking by telephone from New York. “They want ratings.”
The film goes on to cinemas from Thursday, in a 180-degree reversal of the way a movie usually goes out into the world.
“SEAL Team Six” also precedes another film about the hunt for Bin Laden: “Zero Dark Thirty” by director Kathryn Bigelow, who collected the best-film Academy Award in 2009 for the Iraq war movie “The Hurt Locker.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 3rd, 2012.
COMMENTS (11)
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Will this movie be airing in Canada??
@Mohammad Ali Siddiqui
I don't know who will win the election - it's unlikely that a film that got zero press coverage on the weekend before the election will have any impact on Democrats or anyone else for that matter.
@naseer qureshi: "well the good thing, especially for those who blame pakistan for all of their ills, is OBL is not in Pakistan anymore."
But Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri and Mullah Omar are there in Pakistan, and so are many second-rung leaders of Al Qaeda and Taliban.
@Enlightened: Agree with you completely. It was my laziness not to expand on "laziness" in my comment. Here laziness is mental - your top brass are still stuck with concepts of strategic depth, strategic assets and the supposed indispensability of Pakistan's geopolitical location. They just don't want to move with time and change their thinking more suited to the present and foreseeable future.
@Jat: Good analysis but I may like to add that the military might have some hidden agenda behind their decision for not taking on the Talebans.
well the good thing, especially for those who blame pakistan for all of their ills, is OBL is not in Pakistan anymore.
Two days are left in the US Presidential Election.
The release of film will boost the morale of Democratic Voters in the US and ultimately Mr. Obama will win his second term and will retain the White House.
I don't agree to the point of Film Director Mr. John Stockwell who has said that "he had no official cooperation".
It the 'official' cooperation was not made by the US Government, than at least it is very clear that Mr. John Stockwell is cooperating with the sitting US Government by releasing the film just two days before the US Presidential Election.
The timing of release of film cannot be 'co-incidence'.
one may “never know the entire story”. We do not need know the entire story as more OBL like are still alive and they may have to use the same method again. Sunday has the maximum TV viewership.
I have read the book "The Finish by Mark Bowden: The Killing of Osama Bin Laden" and I have reached the conclusion that the Pak army and ISI are bunch of amateurs. I have also reached the conclusion that OBL was shielded by the army.
@Enlightened: "A must see movie for the military’s top brass to analyse why they failed to take any action against American seals who could easily ingress in Pak territory..."
Why should they ? Your military top brass have no intention of taking on either the Americans or the TTP. Combination of fear, greed and laziness have frozen them in time...
A must see movie for the military's top brass to analyse why they failed to take any action against American seals who could easily ingress in Pak territory, land in a cantonment situated in heart of the country, kill OBL and others and flew away without being detected by the military of a nuclear armed country. May be this true story of bravery of the Seals who risked their lives, motivate them to take decisive action against TTP who is threatening the whole country.