Hany Abu-Assad may have been surprised, but I certainly am not. What could be more fashionable among the glitterati these days than the glorification of terrorist murderers and the hatred of our own culture and civilization? From Reuters, with thanks to Cindy:
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad was perhaps the most surprised man at the Golden Globes on Monday as his drama of suicide bombers crossing into Israel, “Paradise Now,” was named the year’s best foreign language film.
Abu-Assad, who works out of Holland but is now looking for a house in Hollywood Hills, had expected to lose as he did earlier this month to martial arts comedy “Kung Fu Hustle” at the Broadcast Film Critics awards.
He said he just assumed that too many people had either not seen his film or simply assumed it was too controversial. After all, Palestinian films are a rarity in the United States, especially ones that try to explain the politics of despair.
In his acceptance speech, Abu-Assad made a plea for a Palestinian state, saying he saw the Golden Globe as “a recognition that the Palestinians deserve their liberty and equality unconditionally….
“I am surprised that we won but I don’t believe my film is controversial. It just shows something from a different side that we are all worried about,” he told reporters backstage at the Globes.
Uh, that is, not that he took sides, of course, heh heh:
Abu-Assad insisted that he had not taken sides in the film but had tried to explain why two seemingly simple garage mechanics would be willing to kill themselves and others. His film presents arguments on all sides of the issue.
“It is a work of cinema. Cinema shows you different points of view,” he added.