Teaching Polanski's "Ghost Writer"

The new (2010) Roman Polanski film "Ghostwriter," has strong potential for use in the classroom. At the box office the film, unsurprisingly, did better on the foreign market than domestically. Ghost Writer is intended for adult, thinking audiences, and the film is carried along by plot and character development. So, it might be difficult for our modern ADHD audience to sit through without the normal cognitive crutches of CGI, 90% seat time fighting, f*****g, cars crashing, etc. But for those who still remember when movies were not under the shadow of video games, this is a film to watch.

The other group that will no doubt suffer through the film belongs to those who support the Global War on Terror, invasion/occupation of Iraq, torture, etc. For example, the New York times review (and they did support the invasion of Iraq) tried to divert the attention from the context of the film and focus our attention on Polanski's private life (here). Certainly, there are interesting parallels. During the making of the film Polanski was under indictment and the threat of extradition (here)as is Prime Minister Lang. Both are in exile, attempting to escape justice. But by focusing on this (art as personal confession), the NY Times attempts to take our eye off the story (art as engagement with the cosmos).

"Ghost Writer" courageously raises the issue of the fact that those in the West who sanctioned and ordered torture, such as Cheney, have not been prosecuted. The argument that Cheney and his ilk make is that torture is justified because it works. The old ticking time bomb argument.

However,the recent killing of Bin Laden clearly illustrates just how misguided Cheney & Ilk are. The facts speak for themselves:

* Bin Laden lived in his compound for 5 years, plenty of time to find him, and plenty of time for many within the Al Qaeda network to know where he was (in fact, over 100 USA military advisors in 2008 lived just minutes from Bin Laden!)
* We don't know how many hundreds of people were tortured, but not one person divulged his location
* The CIA eventually (almost a decade later) found Bin Laden by tracking a phone call (and not waterboarding or using the rack)

Of course, there is reason to be relieved that Bin Laden is gone. But we will not have closure until those who perpetrated illegal acts of torture are brought to justice.

Perhaps it is time that we dug out a DVD of "Ghost Writer" and asked our citizenry (the oldest democracy in the world), if our political leaders should be held accountable for their actions? The standard answer from either wing is - "that would tear the country apart". Well - isn't democracy a messy business? Don't well functioning democracies hold their politicians accountable? Here's a list of countries that have prosecuted or pursued former leaders:

Peru - here

Pakistan issues arrest warrant for Musharraf- here and here and here

Taiwan - here

Philippines - here

France - here and here

Italy - here

In addition to "Ghost Writer", instructors may want to have their students watch:

Fair Game

Frost/Nixon