Russia, Georgia Fund Dueling War Movies

Propaganda is the better part of valor
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 4, 2009 1:21 PM CST

More than a year after they stopped shooting at each other, Russia and Georgia are still fighting—on movie screens. Each side is backing high-profile films sympathetic to their take on the war. Russia’s first effort, a documentary entitled Act of Betrayal, fell flat because its claims that Georgia was committing genocide in South Ossetia were too over-the-top even for supporters. But March’s romantic action flick Olympus Inferno fared better, and a third is in the works.

Georgia, meanwhile, is relying on a Hollywood effort helmed from Die Hard 2 director Renny Harlin. Mikheil Saakashvili says his government didn’t fund the movie, but the screenplay’s author tells Time Georgia put up the seed money, and the executive producer is a lawmaker from the president’s party. “This is our chance to show the whole world what happened here,” he says. “It is based on historical facts.” (More Russia stories.)

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