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Friday, September 8, 2006
A bumpy road on ‘The Path to 9/11’
So much for liberal bias in the media, huh?
ABC’s spectacular two-part docudrama, “The Path to 9/11,” is embroiled in controversy stirred up by Democrats who claim the Clinton administration is unfairly portrayed.
Republicans had a fit in 2003 over perceived negativity in the CBS bio-pic “The Reagans,” which was pulled from the network and shipped off to cable’s Showtime.
This time around, aides to former President Clinton are miffed that they come off as soft on terrorism. The film implies they didn’t take the threat of al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden seriously enough when they had the chance.
The movie is based on the official report of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission, headed by Republican Thomas Kean, former governor of New Jersey. Kean also served as a script consultant for the film project.
The film even includes Clinton’s infamous “I did not have sex with that woman” press conference clip — not once, but twice. The point? To make the case that the Democrats were so distracted by the pending impeachment during the Monica Lewinsky scandal that they didn’t pay close enough attention to bin Laden.
But it should be noted — and viewers will surely see — that the Bush administration also comes off in the movie as ill-informed and inept. There’s plenty of blame to go around. The point that’s being made is that our government’s failures leading up to the terrorist attacks (from 1993 to 2001) were both bipartisan and horrendous.
“The Path to 9/11” is a docudrama, with some scenes created for dramatic effect. That’s standard procedure with docudramas. The goal is to have the scenes reflect a general situation, if not a specific person or comment.
ABC today is said to be re-evaluating and in some cases re-editing a couple of the offensive — and possibly inaccurate scenes. One scene being reviewed has then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright apparently obstructing efforts to capture bin Laden by insisting that Pakistan be informed of the plot.
Kean promoted the film when he met with TV critics in Los Angeles in July. As the controversy bubbled up Thursday, Kean said he stood by the “essence” of the film because he hopes it will draw attention to the commission’s security recommendations that still have not been implemented.
The whole kerfuffel is sure to call attention to the five-hour movie, which is scheduled to air Sunday and Monday nights. And maybe that’s a good thing. At this late date, it is highly unlikely that ABC will pull the film — especially now that it’s practically guaranteed an even bigger audience.
(Check out my review/preview of “The Path to 9/11” in Sunday’s Life & Arts section.)
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