State of emergency (film)

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Movie
German title state of emergency
Original title The victories
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1998
length 111 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
JMK 14
Rod
Director Edward Zwick
script Lawrence Wright ,
Menno Meyjes ,
Edward Zwick
production Lynda Obst ,
Edward Zwick
music Graeme Revell
camera Roger Deakins
cut Steven Rosenblum
occupation

State of emergency (Original title: The Siege ) is an American action and political thriller from 1998 by Edward Zwick with Denzel Washington , Annette Bening and Bruce Willis in the leading roles.

A series of terrorist attacks by Arab suicide bombers panics the residents of New York and leads to the partial occupation of the city by the US Army, which leads to numerous human rights violations against Americans of Arab origin. It is often pointed out that three years before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 , the film anticipated many later developments, including the systematic use of torture by government agencies.

action

Brief summary

In New York, suicide bombers of Arab origin kill numerous people in a series of attacks. Due to the increasingly escalating situation, a state of emergency is imposed on the city. The military arrests all Arab-looking people and interns them in a sports stadium under inhumane conditions. General Devereaux in command begins to systematically torture suspects . As the film progresses, it gradually turns out that the assassins are former CIA- sponsored and trained resistance fighters against Saddam Hussein who were then dropped by the US for political reasons; out of bitterness they have become terrorists (see Blowback ). At the end of the film takes an FBI -Agent General established for violation of numerous laws and torture and murder of one of the suspects. The state of emergency is lifted.

Chronological plot

A bomb attack occurs in an army barracks in Saudi Arabia , killing numerous US soldiers. A fundamentalist cleric, the Iraqi Sheikh Ahmed bin Talal, is suspected to be the mastermind behind the attack. US General William Devereaux has Talal kidnapped from a country in the Middle East, killing his driver.

In New York, agents Hubbard and his colleague Haddad, who comes from Lebanon, are called by the FBI 's special anti-terrorist unit to alarm a bomb on a bus, but the explosive device turns out to be nothing more than a harmless paint bomb. When the bus is later being examined by forensics staff, a woman appears who calls herself Elise Kraft and claims to be from the National Security Council . However, Hubbard does not want her to interfere in his investigation without an official mandate and sends her away. Meanwhile, a suspect named Khalil was arrested who was carrying a large amount of cash in small bills. Since there is nothing to prove to him, he is released and shadowed. When Khalil notices his pursuers, he escapes and is dragged into a car and kidnapped by strangers on the street. Behind the strangers was Elise Kraft, who Khalil is now imprisoned in a house and has her people interrogate. Hubbard has the FBI storm the house and arrests Elise. On the way back they see a bus being kidnapped. The three Arabic-speaking perpetrators released six children after Hubbard's mediation efforts, but then blew themselves up with 25 inmates. Ali Waziri from Ramallah , who entered via Frankfurt three days ago , is identified as one of the assassins .

The last contact person to the arrested Khalil turns out to be Samir Nazhde. He is also arrested, but when it is discovered that he is an informant for Elise, released at her insistence. The FBI eventually storms the hiding place of three terrorists, all of whom are killed in the process. When it was already believed that the danger was over, another terrorist cell bombed a theater, and a school was also taken hostage.

In the meantime it turns out that Elise Kraft is actually called Sharon Bridger and worked as a CIA agent in Iraq during the Gulf War , where she once trained the terrorists to build bombs when they were of use to the interests of the United States. The militant clergyman bin Talal received financial support from the USA and his followers received military training and weapons from the CIA, since with Saddam Hussein they had a common enemy whom they wanted to overthrow. When there was a change in political direction in the USA, support for freedom fighters was stopped, whereupon they became terrorists.

600 people died when an authority building, in which the FBI's anti-terrorism special unit had its headquarters, was destroyed by a car bomb. As a result, martial law is declared over New York City , units of the US Army under the command of William Devereaux occupy the city and seal off Brooklyn , the district with the most immigrants. All Arabs, citizens of Arab origin and Muslims are screened and subjected to a computer search . Many of them are taken to concentration camps, interrogated and tortured without any rights and without a trial.

Hubbard wants to arrest another suspect named Tariq Husseini, but has been wiretapped by the US Army, so that the military takes the man from him and has it tortured to death on orders from General Devereaux. When the 13-year-old son of the FBI agent Haddad was locked in the camp, he quit his job for the time being. Hubbard explains that the Army poses a greater threat to citizens than terrorism.

The last terror cell turns out to be the undercover agent Samir Nazhde, who wants to detonate a bomb in the middle of a demonstration organized for civil rights. When Sharon finds out, she is shot by Samir, shortly afterwards Samir is killed by Hubbard.

FBI Agent Hubbard arrests General Devereaux for violations of international law, congressional oversight and the Logan Act , as well as perjury , kidnapping, torture and murder. The state of emergency will be lifted, the military withdrawn and all interned citizens released.

Reviews

“A remarkably well thought-out action film, the political message of which withstands critical questioning. The plausibly developed plot is carried by good actors. "

- Lexicon of international film

Reception in a political context

  • In a special edition of the Mirror of September 2006 for the fifth anniversary of the attacks of 11 September 2001 author wrote Lars-Olav Beier :
    "the almost three years," in the thriller "state of emergency prior to September 11 came to the cinema, to die in the middle of Manhattan hundreds of people in suicide bombings by Arab terrorists who blow up buses. Brooklyn, where the masterminds are suspected, is cordoned off - a job for Bruce Willis, the savior of the West. The action star plays a general who takes merciless action against the Arabs and brutally tortures them - in the football stadium of all places, the secular sanctuary of everyday American life, which was the target of terrorists in " Black Sunday " in the 1970s . In a “state of emergency” it becomes a concentration camp in which all the Arabs in the city are rounded up and crammed into cages. A dark prophecy was this film, which not only foreshadowed the 9/11 attacks, but also the torture of Abu Ghraib and the inhuman detention conditions of Guantanamo . But with box office earnings of just over 40 million dollars, the "state of emergency" in the USA was a big flop: the viewers in the winter of 1998 saw the horror scenario that the film expected them to be too absurd. "
  • Jakob Augstein wrote in Der Freitag in April 2009 :
    “There is a film that has not been shown on German television for a long time. State of emergency. It's about the fight between an FBI agent and an Army colonel, starring Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis. An Islamist attack terrified New York. The military takes control. Warehouses are set up. It is tortured. But the FBI protects the law and Denzel Washington ends up arresting the Colonel at gunpoint. The film was shot in 1998 in Bill Clinton's America . For all that is known about him, Clinton would not have tortured. And for all that is known about him, George Bush would have continued to torture if he had been allowed to stay in power. And because real life is not a movie, the level of American civilization apparently depends only on the civilization of its president. There is no control outside of the president. A man decides. Everyone follows. The political system, the media, the courts - none of them matter. A man decides when to start torturing and when to stop. And the whole country obeys. "

controversy

When the film came out, it was heavily criticized by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee . Committee spokesman Hussein Ibish said: “The film State of Emergency is extremely offensive. He's more than offensive. We have got used to being insulted, it's everyday life for us. But this is dangerous. It leads to stereotypes that will result in hate crimes. Thanks to this film, the ritual cleansing of Muslims before prayer will evoke associations with violence in the viewer. The film suggests that Muslims have a total disregard for human life ”.

Director Edward Zwick , who had met with Americans of Arab origin, rejected this criticism. The "bad guys" in his film are both Muslims and Christians. Films should not only leave you feeling uncomfortable, they should also stimulate thought.

Awards

  • The film was nominated for a Political Film Society Award in 1999 in the categories Democracy and Human Rights .
  • Bruce Willis was u. a. The 1999 Golden Raspberry negative award in the worst actor category was awarded for his work in a state of emergency .
  • The German Film and Media Evaluation FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title valuable.

literature

  • Annette Kilzer (editor): Bruce Willis. Dieter Bertz Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-929470-70-5 , pp. 243–245, 292

Web links

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for a state of emergency . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , June 1999 (PDF; test number: 81 257 V).
  2. ↑ age rating for a state of emergency . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ^ Entry in the Lexicon of International Films
  4. ↑ Hollywood in Hell in SPIEGEL SPECIAL 6/2006
  5. ↑ Human Rights: The Shame of America in Friday April 18, 2009
  6. ↑ Muslims feel under siege from Hollywood - Arab groups decry a sinister depiction in 'The Siege' of November 5, 1998
  7. ↑ Islamic Council Protests Timing of 'The Siege' in Los Angeles Times, August 25, 1998
  8. ↑ Director Ed Zwick defends 'The Siege' on CNN.com November 10, 1998