From the beginning, Interview (film directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, starring the same Rogen and James Franco) was a big gamble for the film division of Sony: a tape in which two American journalists obtained exclusively with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, are recruited by the CIA and, in the process of conducting the interview, assassinate the dictator, who runs one of the most brutal regimes in the world and whose personality cult is a kind of value National North Korea. All this from a Japanese, country company with fragile relations with their Korean neighbors.
Also from the beginning, the North Korean government described the production as an act of war and vowed a “resolute response and merciless”. Sure, this is a country that periodically threatens its southern neighbors, Japan, United States; but it is also a country with nuclear capabilities, a respectable army and a leadership willing to sacrifice everything to defend national pride, all equally relentless embodied in the supreme leader, now a young descendant of a line of dictators, .
The interview represents a multiple crossroads, not only for Sony, but in general for an entire industry. This week, a group of hackers, who stole material servers Japanese corporation for weeks (the attackers are identified as Guardians of Peace), warned that the release of the tape would have consequences: “Remember the September 11, 2001 . We recommend that you stay away from these places (theaters where the movie will premiere); if your home is close’d better leave it. “
According to some reports, US intelligence officials ensure that cyber attacks are coordinated by the government of North Korea, but so far not publicly been revealed evidence to corroborate these statements, they put in an awkward position both the US government and the corporation of origin Japanese. One hypothesis being handled so far includes the possibility that the attackers have been helped by employees of the corporation to penetrate networks and steal this material, including copies of some unreleased films and script the next James Bond film, and other sensitive documents.
On Wednesday afternoon, Sony announced it will suspend the release of the interview, which was planned for December 25, after at least 1,200 theaters in the United States (from chains such as Cinemark, Regal Carmike Cinemas and Entertainment) announced the withdrawal of the tape of their schedules. Before the company took this decision had already suspended the tape shows in New York, although the December 11 conducted a successful role of the latter in Los Angeles. A spokesman for the study said that, so far, no new release plans.
The study movement seeks legal shield him from the consequences of a terrorist attack could happen, although some federal agencies US had not issued a blunt warning about. But the decision also has implications background about the possibility, freedom if you will, to create pieces that can not be pleasing to foreign governments, especially when it comes to cruel dictatorships. The precedent, either way you want to be tested, not at all flattering, to say the least.
The issue is so sensitive that Kazuo Hirai, Japan’s highest-level executive at Sony, decided to intervene in the decisions of the film arm of the company, a move unprecedented in 25 years. The point of contention is a scene in which the North Korean leader is killed in a rather graphically, with pieces of his head on fire and bursting; Hirai has recommended to tone down the scene, though not suppress the fact as such.
While other films have derided the North Korean regime, including a father of Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-Il , it turns into a cockroach, this is one of the first truly mass, one of the biggest film studios in the world products, a leader of a country dies; the film is a comedy.
For all the films in which the US President is in danger, or even die, nobody wanted to include in a fictional scenario to, say, Barack Obama or George W. Bush and kill them on the screen. We must clarify that this really happened at the time with Saddam Hussein, who even became half dog become a party of Mad Driver Academy.
Although the dissent against a film product is not new, what we do is striking is the scale of the alleged retaliation by the premiere of a film that the whole country may be considered offensive, but for the rest of the world is comical. In a way, perhaps, this dilemma is similar to the controversy over cartoons about Muhammad that were published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in 2005 and ended in death threats to editors, cartoonists and violence connected with death of several people in different parts of the planet.
In an interview with The New York Times, Seth Roge, actor and director, is questioned about the controversy that has unleashed the tape: “There was a lot of discussion, but this is not a complex position assume. It’s not like, ‘Well, politically we must look both sides’. He is bad. It is controversial for him. But for the rest is fine. “
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