BEYOND BORDERS
COMES UNDER FIRE
Copyright 2002 Associated Press
[ March 14th 2002 ]
Ethiopian
officials have complained that a movie starring
Angelina Jolie being filmed in Namibia gives a
biased portrayal of their country. Ethiopia lodged
a complaint with the Namibian government, saying
Beyond Borders only shows the 1984 drought and
starvation in the country and none of the progress
made since then.
In the
film, Jolie falls in love with a doctor who travels
to Cambodia, Chechnya and Ethiopia to help war
victims. Scenes for the movie are being shot in
Namibia instead of Ethiopia, both countries have
similar terrain, because at the time filming was
being considered in Ethiopia, the country was
at war with neighboring Eritrea.
The portrayal
of happenings of 1984 in the film does not reflect
the true image of Ethiopia today," said Tegenaw
Goshu, spokesman of the Ethiopian embassy in South
Africa. Goshu also said producers had not been
willing to work with organizations in Ethiopia
that would have helped put the country's story
in context. "The portrayal of negative images
about Ethiopia does not help the whole of Africa;
the media should strive to include a positive
image of our continent," Goshu said.
There
was no immediate reaction from the Namibian government
Thursday. Jolie, who serves as a goodwill ambassador
for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said
she had been wanting to shoot the film for three
years, and that the script was one of the best
she had ever seen.
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