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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (66349)	11/12/2002 10:20:35 AM
From: average joe	Respond to of 82486

I'm just guessing but most people in Iran probably go to the movies to escape their crappy existence. I bet Psycho Beach Party would draw bigger crowds of male and females than Baran and McDonald's would draw more customers than Ishmael's Kebab stand. Go ahead and buy yourself a happy meal :-)

To: epicure who wrote (66349)	11/12/2002 10:21:04 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

Vietnamese 'traitor' actor defends roles Tuesday, November 12, 2002 Posted: 2:20 PM HKT (0620 GMT) Vietnamese actor Don Duong is under virtual house arrest since Vietnamese authorities labeled him a traitor in September LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- A Vietnamese actor branded a traitor by the Hanoi government and placed under virtual house arrest for appearing in an American-made Vietnam War film has broken his silence to call the charges against him "ridiculous" and "cruel." Don Duong, who played a Vietnamese officer opposite Mel Gibson in "We Were Soldiers," and a refugee in the 2001 film "Green Dragon," defended his work in a letter released this week by family members in California. Duong's relatives have said the 45-year-old actor has been placed under house arrest and restricted from traveling and could face time in jail. A spokeswoman for the Vietnamese government last month denied that Duong had been jailed but said he could be punished because "We Were Soldiers" did not accurately reflect history or paint that nation's soldiers in a good light. The movie depicts the battle of Ia Drang in Vietnam's Central Highlands in 1965, in which men from the 7th Air Cavalry led by Lt. Col. Hal Moore, played by Gibson, overcame a more experienced and much larger North Vietnamese force. Duong said in the letter that "Soldiers" portrays Vietnamese soldiers as heroes and with great respect and said he was "proud and happy" to play the role. "I might be 'naive' about politics but there's one thing I'm sure of," Duong concludes in the letter. "I have done nothing that bothers my conscience, have done nothing that is untruthful, have done nothing that I would want to take back." Of his role in "Green Dragon," in which he plays a Vietnamese refugee at a camp in California, Duong said officials had assumed that he shared opinions voiced by his character in the film. "When I portrayed the character Tai, I had to assume the viewpoint of that character, not my own viewpoint," Duong said in the letter, according to the Times. "Only idiots who know nothing about the movies would confuse Don Duong with the character Don Duong portrays." He added: "To attribute those sentiments to the actor Don Duong is truly ridiculous and extremely cruel." Gibson and others in Hollywood, including Duong's "Green Dragon" co-stars Patrick Swayze and Forest Whitaker, actor Harvey Keitel and "Soldiers" director Randall Wallace, have called for leniency in his case. Duong is a popular actor who has starred in scores of well-received Vietnamese movies and 1999's "Three Seasons" with Keitel. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2002 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.