By KEVIN CIRILLI | 10/25/12 8:26 PM EDT
“SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden,” about the May 2011 killing of bin Laden, will premiere Nov. 4 on National Geographic Channel and is backed by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, an Obama donor who purchased the film rights in May for $2.5 million, The New York Times reported Tuesday. It is is directed by John Stockwell.
According to The Times, the film was “recut” to give Obama more prominence, prompting conservatives to criticize the film as political propaganda for Obama.
The Times also reported that “beyond the political issues, the film may carry the risk of associating Mr. Obama with any backlash in a Muslim world already inflamed by the YouTube trailer for [‘The Innocence of Muslims.’]” Republicans have criticized the Obama administration for linking “The Innocence of Muslims” to last month’s attacks at U.S. diplomatic posts overseas, including one in Benghazi, Libya, that left ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans dead.
Times reporters Michael Cieply and Brian Stelter, who obtained a copy of the film, wrote: “Nothing in ‘SEAL Team Six’ recalls the anti-Muslim tones of that film. But the new film’s portrayals of the jeopardy to Muslim children during the assault on Bin Laden’s compound, and its graphic references to — but not portrayals of — torture in the war on terror may step toward the risk zone.”
In a statement to POLITICO, Stockwell blasted the statements as “nonsensical.”
“The insinuation by The New York Times that our film ‘SEAL Team Six,’ contains scenes that might be incendiary to the Muslim world, because of the ‘jeopardy to Muslim children during the assault on Osama bin Laden’s compound’ is nonsensical and took us all by surprise – as we went to great lengths to highlight the care and the control that the SEALs showed during the chaos of the raid – not to harm any women and children,” Stockwell said in the statement. “This film is dedicated to the men and women of the armed forces and intelligence community who sacrifice, for us, everyday. We have tried to portray them accurately and with respect.”
Contacted by POLITICO, The New York Times said it was looking into the matter and could not provide an immediate comment.
Stockwell released clips from the film to POLITICO to illustrate his point.
In one 26-second clip, soldiers are seen taking precautions in helping children be safely removed from bin Laden’s compound. In the other 28-second clip, a skipper played by actor Robert Knepper tells a soldier who shot a civilian target during a training session: “We get our guy and leave dead women and kids this mission is a failure.”
National Geographic Channels CEO David Lyle on Thursday denied allegations that the film’s release was politically timed to The Associated Press.
“I think the end titles run longer than Obama’s time on screen,” Lyle told The AP. “People that haven’t seen the movie have decided that it’s a political event. Believe me, in 85 million homes, a movie from National Geographic is not going to change the outcome of the election in a country of 300 million.”
