Word: johnstons
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Along the same lines, Johnston says he hopes the film will raise questions that many Americans have not asked about the way in which the search for Osama bin Laden was conducted. For example, why did many Afghans give little credit to President George W. Bush’s offer of a $25 million reward? Did, as many Afghans believed, the United States allow the conflict to extend in order to secure plans for an oil pipeline...
Most importantly, Johnston asks why the majority of Westerners, including U.N. officials and CNN analysts, were not aware of the list of al Qaeda’s specific demands. This list was made public several years before the Sept. 11 attacks, without response from any Western power. Though never directly sympathetic to the terrorists, the filmmakers constantly offer a perspective that includes the political context that led to the attacks...
...think all of us had some reservations,” Johnston says when asked about the danger. “We had no official U.N., no U.S. support. We were told if anything happened not to call them.” He hopes that the film reflects the fear and anxiety he felt as a Westerner in Afghanistan. “It was a humbling experience,” he says, “realizing that there was a bounty on our heads, that we were unprotected...
...deeply in the film’s importance. In the planning stages, when it became clear just how unwilling studios were to offer funding, each personally invested several thousands of dollars in order to make it happen. “Not a small amount of money,” Johnston says. “It was a big commitment to the project...
Even when the situation was at its scariest, the crew maintained the determination to record the chaos of post-war Afghanistan. Johnston says that his film gave some Afghans their first chance to voice their opinions of the situation. In spite of the risks involved in associating with Western journalists, the locals the crew met were eager to have a part in the project, and he believes they spoke honestly in the casual interviews captured on tape...