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Can Movies Kill?

Coming to a theater near you this autumn, a slew of films critical of America. That's just great, isn't it? We have about 200,000 men and women presently in combat zones, and a bunch of far-left Hollywood loons want to denigrate the country.

Loon No. 1 is Brian de Palma, who has directed films such as the "The Untouchables" and "Scarface." His new movie, "Redacted," focuses on U.S. soldiers who rape an Iraqi woman and murder her family.

The film is based on a real-life event that has resulted in three soldiers being tried, convicted and sent to prison for life.

Yet, DePalma wants the world to see this horror in living color. He wants this for political reasons, as he freely admits. Speaking before journalists in Italy, DePalma said: "The movie is an attempt to bring to reality what's happening in Iraq to the American people. ... The pictures are what will stop the war."

Here's how stupid that statement is: Overwhelmingly, American forces in Iraq have behaved with restraint and are trying to protect Iraqi civilians from terrorists who blow up women and children. That is the reality, pal. Your movie takes the exception and attempts to make it the rule.

Not only that, but "Redacted" will play around the world and may well incite young Muslim men, already steeped in hatred toward America and the West, to act on their hatred. If just one of those men straps on a bomb vest and murders people, that is on Brian DePalma.

My question is: Why make a film like this? Most people will avoid it. Who wants to see that kind of stuff? It definitely smears the military and may even put our forces in physical danger. Why do this?

In the summer of 1942, the Office of War Information, set up by President Franklin Roosevelt, censored American films that depicted scenes that might be used as "enemy propaganda." Few in Hollywood objected to the so-called "Production Code."

The OWI even sent a manual to the movie studios suggesting they answer seven questions before any film was put into production.

The first question was: "Will this picture help win the war?"

The liberal icon FDR understood that war is so gruesome and chaotic that no civilian population could absorb it visually and still remain upbeat and committed to victory. Imagine seeing live shots of the D-Day invasion or the horror of Iwo Jima.

Even during the Vietnam War, Hollywood did not examine the terrible conflict on film. It was only after the war had ended that you had movies like "The Deer Hunter" and "Apocalypse Now."

But things have changed drastically in America. Today, it is chic among some in the entertainment industry to bash America and put it in a harsh light — even while Americans are dying overseas.

It's freedom of expression, they say. Well, just because you have the right to do something doesn't make it right.

Fair-minded Americans should realize that in any war mistakes will be made, horrifying things like Abu Ghraib will happen. These things need to be dealt with but not exploited for political gain. The American military is doing important, noble work. Brian DePalma, and the others who back him, should be ashamed.

They are hurting their own country.

Veteran TV news anchor Bill O'Reilly is host of the Fox News show "The O'Reilly Factor" and author of the book "Culture Warrior." To find out more about Bill O'Reilly, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Webpage at www.creators.com. This column originates on the Website www.billoreilly.com.

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