Word: conflictive
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...their dispute on the movie screen. Russian filmmakers have already released a slick documentary as well as a romantic feature that depicts Georgia as a genocidal aggressor. Now, the Georgian government is supporting Renny Harlin, the Hollywood director who made Die Hard 2, for its own take on the conflict, complete with Andy Garcia as the embattled Georgian President standing up to Russian tanks...
...Truth, famously, is the first victim in war. In the case of the Russia-Georgia conflict, the closest we'll probably get to the truth is an E.U.-led investigation that took more than a year to figure out who fired the first shot. That was Georgia, the report concluded, while also judging that Russia violated international law during the onslaught that followed. But don't expect to see any of that nuance in the films now battling it out to rewrite history. (See a brief history of World War II movies...
...Russia has a competing version of the facts, and has been paying millions of dollars to make sure the public hears it. The first attempt, a graphic and slickly produced documentary called War 08.08.08: The Art of Betrayal, was released three months after the conflict. It argued that American mercenaries had helped the Georgian government commit genocide against the people of South Ossetia, a separatist region that Russia says it was forced to step in to protect. But the project fell flat. Narrated by Canadian George Watts - a former translator for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin - its arguments seemed heavy...
...gives a very objective point of view," Voloshin tells TIME. "On the one hand it is a feature film, a work of art, but from the point of view of history, we did not lie." When asked where he had found objective truth in the muddied waters of the conflict, Voloshin said he did not need to prove anything. "Time will show who is right," he says...
...Perhaps it will. But just in case, Russia is looking to make another movie to shore up its version of the conflict. Renowned Serbian director Emir Kusturica declined the project last month following a meeting with its Russian backers in a Moscow nightclub. But don't be surprised if those behind the film sign someone else up and Russian moviegoers soon get yet another take on a familiar subject...