[2471] in peace2
Film: Civilian Casualties, showing tonight at Lucy Parsons
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jan Outcalt)
Wed Apr 16 13:18:17 2003
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Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 13:15:18 -0400
To: peace-announce@mit.edu, no-war@mit.edu
From: Jan Outcalt <jano@MIT.EDU>
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Lucy Parsons Center
549 Columbus Avenue
(just down from Mass Ave and easily reached from the Mass Ave and
Symphony T stations and the #1 bus)
Boston's South End
Telephone: 617.267.6272
Email: lucyparsons@tao.ca
>
>Wednesday, April 16th, at 7pm . . .
>
>
> ### CIVILIAN CASUALTIES ###
>
>
>Civilian Casualties is a one-hour documentary that tells the
>personal story of several incidents of Afghan civilian casualties
>during Operation Enduring Freedom, as seen through the eyes of four
>Americans who lost loved ones in the September 11th terrorist
>attacks.
>
>The film follows the four Americans on a delegation to Afghanistan
>in January of 2002 to share their grief and offer their condolences
>to Afghan families who lost loved ones in the U.S. bombing.
>
>The story begins with the four family members in Afghanistan and
>progresses through a series of flash-backs and flash-forwards.
>Background information on the events that brought them to
>Afghanistan is compiled from interviews conducted in Afghanistan and
>the U.S. as well as footage of their public actions and statements
>following September 11th.
>
>The journey in and around Kabul takes the viewer through many sites
>that reflect the current state of Afghanistan. These scenes are
>contrasted by public statements made by members of the U.S. State
>Department and Pentagon on the incidents of Afghan civilian
>casualties and the use of cluster bombs.
>
>One of the first places the family members visit is a village site
>heavily bombarded with cluster bombs. There an Afghan mine clearance
>expert from Halo Trust talks about his efforts to defuse the
>hundreds of cluster bombs that sill remain in the area. Next follows
>a visit to a local hospital that treats and houses many children who
>have lost siblings, friends and body parts when these cluster bombs
>were mistakenly touched.
>
>At one point, the family members successfully bring press attention
>to the reality of collateral damage in a press conference outside
>the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, where they escort Arifa, a recent bombing
>victim, who had previously been turned away when she tried to submit
>a statement asking for help after a U.S. bomb destroyed her home and
>killed eight members of her family.
>
>Finally, the American family members visit a very poor neighborhood
>struck by U.S. bombs, and find the families there struggling to care
>for severely traumatized children who have stopped speaking,
>regressing to an infantile state with little prospect for recovery
>or treatment.
>
>The film's coda brings us back to the U.S., where statements made by
>President Bush on the one-year anniversary of the September 11th
>attacks take on new meaning in light of this recent journey in
>Afghanistan.
>
>
>Civilian Casualties, produced by FRANCES ANDERSON
>
More: http://www.civiliancasualties.com/
