Spike Lee calls Patriot a whitewash Source: AFP|Published: Friday July 7, 11:39 AM LOS ANGELES: Mel Gibson's Revolutionary War epic The Patriot is 'a complete whitewashing of history', director Spike Lee charged in a letter published today. The outspoken African American director of Summer of Sam (1999), Malcolm X (1992) and Do the Right Thing (1989) slammed The Patriot's makers for ignoring blacks and Native Americans. 'For three hours, The Patriot dodged around, skirted about or completely ignored slavery,' Lee wrote in his letter to The Hollywood Reporter, a daily entertainment trade paper. 'How convenient was it for screenwriter Robert Rodat to have Mel Gibson's character not be a slaveholder?' In the movie directed by Roland Emmerich (Independence Day and Godzilla) Gibson plays a South Carolina farmer reluctant to fight in the Revolutionary War until a sadistic British officer (Jason Issacs) kills one of his sons. But Lee says the movie leaves out important historical details. 'Let's not forget that two of 'the framers', founding fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, owned numerous slaves. The Patriot is pure, blatant American Hollywood propaganda. A complete whitewashing of history, revisionist history,' Lee continued. 'While holding myself back from shouting at the screen, I kept wondering where are the slaves? Who's picking the cotton?' 'Size does matter,' the controversial filmmaker concluded. 'But shouldn't truth matter more?' -- ********************************** 'Click' to protect the rainforest: Make the Rainforest Site your homepage! http://www.therainforestsite.com/ ********************************** ------------------------------------------------------ RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
