Caracas, July 2 (IANS/EFE) “Esclavo de Dios” (Slave of God), a film inspired by the 1994 bombing of a Jewish organization in Argentina, premiered in Venezuela amid controversy between the director and groups who say the movie is anti-Arab.
Filmed in Argentina, Venezuela, Uruguay and the US, the picture tells the story of a Kuwaiti Muslim militant and an agent of Israel’s Mossad spy agency whose paths converge around the attack on the AMIA offices in Buenos Aires, which left 85 people dead.
Days before the film opened in Caracas, a group linked to Venezuela’s governing socialist party called on people to boycott “Esclavo de Dios” over its “mistaken depiction of the reality lived by peoples such as the Lebanese and the Palestinians”.
The director, Joel Novoa, said those criticisms “are biased comments based on a trailer of barely 2 minutes, because they haven’t seen the film”.
“The film doesn’t take a position, it’s doesn’t make propaganda for anyone. It goes inside the minds of both extremists. It’s not anti-Arab,” Novoa told EFE.
Backed by investors from Argentina, Venezuela and Spain, the 27-year-old director spent two years making “Esclavo de Dios”.
The AMIA case remains unsolved.
–IANS/EFE
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