Who's Next?
- Rodney Hide
- Jun 14, 2021
- 2 min read
The denunciations are coming so thick and so fast it’s impossible to keep up.
Making the movie "They Are Us" dramatising saintly Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern should put producer Philippa Campbell in the pantheon. It’s a movie about, “how an unprecedented act of hate was overcome by an outpouring of love and support.”
But no. Ms Campbell would fare better having had an old iwi/kiwi billboard in her garage, a ten-year-old tweet questioning Al Gore's predictions and a husband hiding a MAGA cap.
I was happy myself simply not to see the movie.
But staying away is not enough for the High Priests clearing the world of heresy. They have tied the movie and anyone involved to the Twitter stake and stoked the fire.
Green Party MP Golriz Ghahraman declared the movie “white supremacy”. The movie has yet to be produced.
Journalist and poet Mohamed Hassan agrees: “In its essence, it is a story about an act of white supremacy that is centered around white voices, white feelings and white heroism”. He hasn’t seen the script.
Founder of Hamilton Ethnic Women's Centre Trust and Islamic Women's Council Anjum Rahman’s biggest concern is that the profits from the film would line Hollywood pockets.
“Are they going to make money off the backs of people’s suffering? That part worries me.”
She wants the profits to go to victim support and counterterrorism efforts.
New Zealand Muslim community advocate Guled Mire is understanding but wants the Prime Minister to have a say on what movies get made and which ones don’t.
“I understand the prime minister can’t control who decides to depict her or write about her, but what she can do is speak out and say this is insensitive and in her view not appropriate.”
The Prime Minister for her part has humbly said, “There are plenty of stories from March 15 that could be told, but I don’t consider mine to be one of them.”
Christchurch Mayor Leanne Dalziel “was shocked to read coverage of FilmNation’s sense of entitlement that leads them to believe they can make this film. This is ‘a’ story. It is not ‘the story’.”
The National Islamic Youth Association have started a petition calling for the movie to be shut down saying it sidelines the victims and survivors and instead centres on the response of a white woman.
Three years ago it was old white men calling for one standard of citizenship who were deplatformed. Now it’s lefty women making movies about how great the Prime Minister is. The accusations are the same but the target has expanded.
Keep your head down. Enjoy the Show. It’s wild out there.
What's going on? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzN2x7Tvjp8
Connor: [Laughs briefly] Wanna hear another theory? This Fasil was so upset about the lousy wrestling tonight, he went down to the garage and in a fit of depression cut off his own head.
The last Movie I saw in a theatre was "Braveheart", and I was traumatised that my Scots ancestors could be treated in such a cavalier manner. I really think I need a PM apology, because I am one of the few in this country never to get one!
In my opinion, this film would have served as a re-election platform for the PM. It would be cheap to make from newsreels and interviews, with no doubt a nice pro/epilogue from the woman herself. It would be easy to assemble in time for the next election campaign. I think that the events of March 15 should be embargoed for a length of time - a decade at least - so that the subject could be examined dispassionately with the benefit of hindsight, as a point in New Zealand's history.
I have to admit I actually signed the petition because it was all about Ardern (in the circumstances, I found that vulgar). I waited awhile before signing because I was waiting for her to come out and state her position. But that didn’t happen. So I signed. It took her a few days to make a carefully crafted PR statement - obviously, Ardern and her minders were waiting to see which way the wind was blowing with the voters (which I find even more vulgar). If I had it all over again…