According to Mideast authorities,
the riots began yesterday. Frenzied Mohammedan worshippers poured out of
mosques to attack after Cassady posted and widely promoted a YouTube short
subject entitled "In No Sense of Muslins," a fabric and fiber-arts
how-to lesson that explains sewing techniques for those with muslin allergies,
who must for medical reasons avoid exposure to loose-woven cotton cloth.
Over a failing phone connection, Cassady said there
must be some terrible misunderstanding about the content of "In No Sense
of Muslins."
Meanwhile, Cleveland Movie Blog editor Bob Ignizio has
accepted this guest column from Elyria
filmmaker Chip Karpus, to substitute for Charles Cassady's usual mordant column
on the current cinema scene.
Besides making the deadline, it will also buy Mr. Ignizio
valuable employee-outsourcing cred in case Mitt Romney becomes president.
Now over to Chip Karpus...
With the Youtube-produced epic INNOCENCE OF MUSLIMS
adding another chapter to the dynamic and always-entertaining history of
grassroots Islamic film criticism, it's high time to revisit one of the most
unique and bizarre interactions between fundamentalist Islam and the silver
screen.
Most people remember the Pakistani INTERNATIONAL
GUERILLAS, if they remember it at all, because of a network news story that
aired at the time of the film's release. The story featured a couple of minutes
of footage from the spectacular climax (Hey Brokaw, how about a spoiler alert!)
that left viewers with the did-I-dream-that impression unique to films from
that part of the world. Fans of copyright-free Turkish cinema will be familiar
with the sensation.
Produced in Lahore
in 1990, a few scant months after rioting in the streets of Islamabad
over the publication of The Satanic Verses left several protestors dead at the
hands of police, the INTERNATIONAL GUERILLAS was intended to capitalize on the
region-wide outrage stirred up by the Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa against author
Salman Rushdie. An almost indescribable amalgamation of Pakistani pop
filmmaking (kind of a low-rent Bollywood), Muslim propaganda, and large-scale
action, the plot involves three brothers (the "guerillas" of the
title) who set off on a holy crusade to assassinate Rushdie in fulfillment of
the dying request of their sister who was killed in the rioting - actual
footage of which is edited into the film.
The eldest brother, a serious-minded policeman who has
become disenchanted by the corruption of his department by Israeli operatives,
is the leader of the expedition. The younger brothers are lusty, lovable rogues
in the Bollywood tradition.
With a conventional three-hour running time the episodic
plot includes multiple raids by the trio (one while inexplicably dressed in
Batman costumes!) on Rushdie's headquarters, a luxurious island villa guarded
by the Israeli army. Interspersed are several musical numbers. A scene in which
one of the brothers is assigned to kill his lover, who has been exposed as an
Israeli agent, explodes in a particularly tasteless song-and-dance. There are
also two ludicrously stereotypical Arab sheiks who serve as comic relief.
But the real draw here is the depiction of Rushdie
himself as a James Bond-type supervillain bent on destroying Islam through his
master plan for opening a chain of casinos and discotheques throughout the
Muslim world. The author is portrayed as an evil sadist who takes delight in
personally executing attempted assassins, one of whom is first tortured by
being forced to listen to a reading of The Satanic Verses. The actor playing
Rushdie bears no physical resemblance whatever to the author. In fact one of
Rushdie's biggest objections to the film seemed to be the choice of wardrobe:
"a rather ugly range of pastel safari suits", he said in an
interview.
The film certainly drags at times, with the Arab sheiks being
especially tedious, but dedicated viewers will be rewarded for sticking it out.
The apocalyptic climax in which the wicked novelist gets his comeuppance is
part RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, part LIFE OF BRIAN, and part fanatical wish
fulfillment. Producer Sajjad Gul claimed recently that the movie was intended
as a joke from the beginning and that Middle Eastern audiences were expected to
recognize the outlandishness of it all. That may be so, but no one who has seen
the ending could be convinced that it was produced in anything but a spirit of
deadly earnestness.
The film was supposedly a smash hit in its homeland, but
plans for an international release fizzled after a disappointing performance in
England. Part
of its failure may be due to Salman Rushdie himself who declined the
opportunity afforded by strict English anti-defamation laws to block its premiere
in cinemas in the Pakistani districts of London.
Having had some experience with the phenomenon, he reasoned shrewdly that the
controversy would make it the hottest ticket in town. With no objections
raised, the movie died quietly.
International video rights were sold to the owner of a
Pakistani video store in London who
seems not to have acted on them. Bootleg DVD's are available with English
subtitles, presumably from the British release prints. My own copy appears to
be a VHS dupe that originated with Video Search of Miami and includes a note
from the translators who felt compelled to warn their clients that it was the
worst movie they had ever seen.
So with Rushdie taking full advantage of the current
unrest to promote his new book on the morning talk-show circuit, the question
should be asked whether INTERNATIONAL GUERILLAS can still play some part in
world affairs. Provided western audiences can be persuaded to accept it as more
than a humorous oddity, it could only serve as an unflattering look into
street-level agit prop movie-making, a glaring contrast to our government's
edifying apologetics. And who in the Muslim world could (with a straight face,
need it be said?) advance the feeblest challenge. Salman Rushdie might not
approve but he would certainly get it.
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