Saturday 3 November 2012

5 Days of War - A Film Steeped in Appalling Bias



I watched the 2011 film 5 Days of War about the short conflict in August 2008 between Georgia and Russia over the breakaway republic of South Ossetia yesterday evening and was shocked at its dreadful lack of balance. In depicting the South Ossetians/Russians as brutal war criminals, while the Georgians are perceived as innocent victims incapable of malice, the filmmakers committed their own crime against history.

It was of course the Georgians who launched the initial attack on the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali on August 9th, which led to a rapid escalation of the tensions which had been building up between the sides.

Shortly after the brief war had ended I wrote this piece for the Press Gazette which shows that there was an entirely different version of events to be believed than is granted by 5 Days of War, which incredibly features some illustrious names in acting, such as Val Kilmer, Andy Garcia and Heather Graham, albeit in a cameo role.
   
Plenty of reviewers at the time also condemned the film for its blatant propaganda and Human Rights Watch were reportedly not happy with it despite the organisation being cited in what is a breathtakingly crass piece of filmmaking.

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