Following in the grand tradition of thespian political self-congratulation, noted British actor Alan Rickman has directed a new play called My Name is Rachel Corrie. Ms. Corrie, for those who don’t know, was the 23-year old American activist allegedly killed in Gaza two years ago while trying to prevent an Israeli army bulldozer from demolishing a Palestinian house. I say allegedly because, as Clive Davis dryly notes in his London Times review, “the exact details of her final moments were hotly disputed, a point not acknowledged in this production.”
Hotly, indeed. If the facts of the Rachel Corrie story prove to be as “accurate” as those of the notorious Mohammed al-Dura case, as some are now suggesting they are, Mr. Rickman deserves to be taken behind the woodshed for a good old-fashioned public school caning.
Meanwhile, we rely on the conclusion of Mr. Davis’ review:
As for the scenes set in Israel - brilliantly evoked by Hildegard Bechtler’s bullet-pocked concrete set - an element of unvarnished propaganda comes to the fore. With no attempt made to set the violence in context, we are left with the impression of unarmed civilians being crushed by faceless militarists. Early on, Corrie makes a point of informing us that more Israelis have been killed in road accidents than in all the country’s wars put together. As she jots down thoughts in her notebook and fires off e-mails to her parents, she declares that “the vast majority of Palestinians right now, as far as I can tell, are engaging in Gandhian non-violent resistance”. Even the late Yassir Arafat might have blushed at that one.
BTW, Clive Davis also blogs.
UPDATE: Melanie Phillips rounds up the usual (review) suspects on this “progressive” new drama.
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36 Comments
1. vegetius:Rickman is validating his screen persona as a
bona fide real-life clever villain. (This is the same Rickman as seen in “Diehard”, “Robinhood”, “Quigly Down Under”, etc. No?)
Apr 18, 2005 - 12:28 pm 2. jedrury:I confess to have thoroughly enjoyed Rickman ever since “Truly, Madly, Deeply” and “Robin Hood,” but whoever said anything Hollywood ever made stood as history; propaganda yes, history no.
Apr 18, 2005 - 1:08 pm 3. David:Ok, I’ll bite, what is the problem with her last moments, anybody got some links?
Apr 18, 2005 - 1:23 pm 4. Pat Curley:I don’t think we’re ever going to find out the “exact details” for the simple reason that each side has their version that they are going to believe no matter what proof exists to contradict it.
I looked a fair amount at the famed photos before Corrie was crushed and it seems obvious that she was playing a game of chicken with the bulldozer and at times was out of the line of sight of the operator.
Apr 18, 2005 - 1:59 pm 5. Knucklehead:David,
To the best of my knowledge the “hotly contested last moments” stuff is whether or not the bulldozer driver could see her. If he could see her, or if the world can be convinced that was the case, then the driver is a “murderer” and she a martyr. If he couldn’t see her, then she is a former Moonbatus Twitus since, after all, her whole schtick was based upon the reasonably sensible notion that nobody would deliberately run her over and she should have made danged sure the driver could see her.
If there’s more to it than that I’d be interested to hear about it.
Apr 18, 2005 - 2:02 pm 6. Terrye:I am sorry but this crap of going to these places to get in the middle of dangerous situations and then everyone else being blamed for the outcome is silly.
I doubt the man knew where she was. I spent enough years around big machines and tractors to know that there are blind spots. I knew a man who ran over his own daughter that way, he did not know she was there.
This is just propaganda and what is more the man who is putting this together was not even there. He can not possibly know.
Maybe he could do a production about young people blown to bits in a pizza parlor by a brainwashed Palestinian fanatic. There is no doubt as to whether or not those deaths were deliberate.
Apr 18, 2005 - 2:22 pm 7. Morgan:Somewhat OT, wandering down the Rachel Corrie’s last moments path:
The irony is that the behavior of Ms. Corrie and her fellow protesters was predicated on the conviction that the bulldozer drivers would not intentionally hurt them. “They may be occupying murderers, but, you know, they won’t actually deliberately hurt me…”
Of course, after her death her fellows were sure she had been murdered.
Still, it looks to me like the game of jumping off the tracks just before the train comes through. An inherently dangerous game, bulldozer baiting.
Apr 18, 2005 - 2:29 pm 8. Curmudgeon:Sorry to hear about Rickman. One more artist I’ll refuse to pay to see, even if he’s coupled with someone I like (like Bruce Willis). One more grave to pee on someday, if I live that long.
As far as I’m concerned, Rachel Corrie died from an excess of arrogant stupidity. If I was in charge of the bulldozers, the policy would be to move with deliberate speed and crush anyone who refused to get out of the way. I really doubt that that is Israeli policy, given the fact that they don’t even execute proven murderers, but I’m not going to trouble myself over it.
Apr 18, 2005 - 2:30 pm 9. Buddy Larsen:Some awfully good points made here–if she really believed she was fighting murderers, then she was insane and the story is ’suicide by dozer’. The other point is, if she was against murder, then why not try being a human shield against Hamas? A third point, mine, is, what if the dozer DID run over her on purpose? So friggin’ what? It was a war situation, she could’ve been slowing down the dozer so her pals could gather up an RPG and kill the driver.
Apr 18, 2005 - 3:58 pm 10. Swopa:… the 23-year old American activist allegedly killed in Gaza two years ago…
Whoa. You mean she might still be alive?!?
Apr 18, 2005 - 4:10 pm 11. Fausta:Rickman not only directed it, he co-wrote and produced the play, with the help of the Corrie family, who gave him full access to her diaries.
He showed some promise as writer/director in The Winter Guest a few years ago. Unfortunately, he’s also shown very poor judgement, both with the Corrie project, and in his choice of movie roles in the last 10 years. What a fool — Gandhian non-violent resistance my foot.
Apr 18, 2005 - 4:25 pm 12. Buddy Larsen:Thanks, Swopa…proves the point, the driver couldn’t tarry, no tellin’ WHAT might show up!
Apr 18, 2005 - 4:28 pm 13. ahem:This is one of those godawful situations where, try as you might, it’s very hard to tell exactly what happened other than it was unfortunate all the way around. It might have been easier to tell if a video existed; snap shots alone are inconclusive.
Idealistic kids who feel they can play with fire without getting burned give me the pip; on the other hand, soldiers who are too tired or irritated to watch out for said dumb kids don’t do anything for me, either.
But we’ll never know.
Unfortunately, the idea that Israelis are the bad guys is now fashionable and we’ll have to slog through it.
Apr 18, 2005 - 4:44 pm 14. lindenen:Another one bites the dust. Alan Rickman, you are a great actor with truly horrible teeth and some shitty politics.
“As she jots down thoughts in her notebook and fires off e-mails to her parents, she declares that “the vast majority of Palestinians right now, as far as I can tell, are engaging in Gandhian non-violent resistance”.”
I’d love to stage this play myself and show just how deranged the play’s message is. This scene would have a large projection of a suicide bombing behind it as well as members of Hamas goosestepping. Maybe some Palestinian children being used as shields by terrorists. There’s so much material.
Apr 18, 2005 - 4:53 pm 15. kps:The dispute about her death is over the question of whether the injury from the bulldozer accident was itself fatal, or whether she came out of the Palestinian hospital dead (whether by neglect or worse) because she was more useful that way.
Apr 18, 2005 - 4:58 pm 16. Buddy Larsen:Who was it, where was it, some year ago mas o menos, some reporter infiltrated the same–or was a similar–underground railroad system that recruits Rachel Corrie types in USA, then ships ‘em to Hamas–or ‘whoever’–to do their inverted-idealist thing. Belied by my losing it, it was one of the more chilling exposes I’ve ever read, of the utter lack of all normal ‘thought’ that goes in inside these hard-left campus-affiliated cults.
Apr 18, 2005 - 5:06 pm 17. richard mcenroe:If Rachel Corrie stood for peace then General Custer was truly a Friend of the Red Man, just like Errol Flynn told us in They Died With Their Boots On…
Apr 18, 2005 - 5:25 pm 18. Brown Line:“Corrie, by Grapthar’s hammer you shall be avenged!”
Apr 18, 2005 - 6:10 pm 19. Old Dad:The play has nothing to do with Rachel Corrie. The paywright has made this poor dead child a political whore. My sense is that Ms. Corrie was seriously deluded, but let’s let her RIP.
There’s a very sick and dangerous antisemitism coursing through the veins of the lefty elites in Europe…again.
Apr 18, 2005 - 6:56 pm 20. harsh pencil:Yippie Kay Yay, MotherF***er.
Apr 18, 2005 - 7:11 pm 21. Al from CHGO:Mr Rickman? I thought Bruce Willis settled his
hash a few years ago. Maybe Mr R had a’chute also, landed on his head, which would explain his
participation in this folly.
Apr 18, 2005 - 8:36 pm 22. richard mcenroe:Charlie Johnson has a pretty good response to this crap…
Apr 18, 2005 - 9:46 pm 23. Kevin P:Roger:
The non-violent group she belongs to makes an exception for Palestinian violence. It’s like the committed vegan who eats a steak once a week. Non-violent for the naive Americans and Euros, supporting or rationalizing Palestinian suicide bombers for the Islamo fascists. Machivelian to say the least.
Apr 18, 2005 - 10:43 pm 24. LamontCranston:“I say allegedly because” — Because you’re an arsehole trying to diminish the worth of another human beings life. There is no ‘alleged’ about it, the IDF armoured-bulldozer deliberately ran her down - the driver could clearly see her standing several meters directly in front of him and on a raised mound that was at least half a meter above the surrounding area & in a florescent orange jacket - go look up the damned pictures.
“With no attempt made to set the violence in context” — Yeah because taking other peoples homes & land by force needs context.
ìIf I was in charge of the bulldozers, the policy would be to move with deliberate speed and crush anyone who refused to get out of the way. really doubt that that is Israeli policy,î ñ Considering the frequent number of elderly in wheelchairs found crushed around these sites Iíd say that is their policy.
îA third point, mine, is, what if the dozer DID run over her on purpose? So friggin’ what? It was a war situationî ñ No, it was a land-grab situation. There is a distinct and very specific difference.
ìor whether she came out of the Palestinian hospital dead (whether by neglect or worse) because she was more useful that way.î ñ I find the insinuation there disgusting. But if the quality and condition of the hospital was the fault that certainly is not the Palestinians fault for several reasons that I hope youíre all bright enough to figure out on your own.
Apr 18, 2005 - 11:41 pm 25. HA:So, Roger, when are you going to write a script with an alternative point of view? You can expose the truth about her marxist inspired anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism, and her accidential death and subsequent canonization by those who want to carry on her jihad.
Apr 19, 2005 - 4:22 am 26. Buddy Larsen:Lamont, tell us about the Great Arafat! Spare no praise! Give us the full storyline!
Apr 19, 2005 - 5:33 am 27. Curmudgeon:Lamont’s power to cloud men’s minds seems to be limited to his own.
Apr 19, 2005 - 5:35 am 28. Buddy Larsen:Yah…he’s really let himself go, since old Fred passed away.
Apr 19, 2005 - 5:46 am 29. kps:Is that this “sequence”, with the evil shapeshifting bulldozer that changes models every few seconds? Or this, with the evil vampire bulldozer that doesn’t cast a shadow in the same direction as the pure-hearted Corrie?
Apr 19, 2005 - 9:38 am 30. PJ:A lot of misbehaviour in the world can be attributed to a universally human (and sometimes fatal) yen for heroism. RC had it bad; she chose the wrong path, along with many, many others.
Of course the logic of critiques by the Lamonts and Rickmans of the movement fall short–it’s all about the feeling, the danger and idealism, of the Grand March of History!
Apr 19, 2005 - 6:55 pm 31. Buddy Larsen:..and the facts are only points-of-departure for the Big Red Sky treatment.
Apr 19, 2005 - 8:46 pm 32. The Truth:So, Mr. Simon, what are your thoughts on the death of Marla Ruzicka? Care to share them with us? Care to celebrate the death of another peace activist because of her views?
Wolcott’s right: ghouls, the lot of you.
Apr 20, 2005 - 12:34 pm 33. nutmeat:lemme see if I get this right:
the leader of the most powerful nation on the planet is Sharon’s bum boy but your givin me, “Oh, the poor widdle Israelis can’t get an even break”?
Stop! You’re embarrassing yourself.
Apr 20, 2005 - 5:00 pm 34. illison:Truth and Nutmeat, you’re wasting your time. The keyboard heroes here assembled are good for nothing more than slight variations on whatever talking point Simon or Charles Johnson have handed them. They’re a bunch of schoolyard bullies whose sole function is to gang up on anyone who actually has the courage of their convictions.
Apr 21, 2005 - 6:03 pm 35. Buddy Larsen:What a hilarious snapshot of leftoid thinking you are, illison…you COMPLETELY misread nutmeat. Are you always so dull-headed?
Apr 22, 2005 - 3:46 pm 36. Buddy Larsen:The people here are lamenting that bumper-sticker politics had to turn so deadly, and further the trumping of martyrdom for sdomeone killled by such a rank, vulgar, disproven, for-suckers-only political philosophy.
Actual truth, it is you who are celebrating her death.
Apr 22, 2005 - 3:51 pm