"The Sum of all Fears" unfolds the consequences of the terrorist attack of September 11. One of them is the confusion, the other is the necessity of reviewing the strategic orientation of the American foreign policy, which, in fact, is an internal security policy that crosses the borders to become a "Monroe Doctrine" of the XNUMXst century : America must act anywhere in the world, where its security is threatened. Russia: Blerim Shala (article first published in 2002, in the Albanian Political Weekly "Zëri")

"The Sum of all Fears", directed by Phil Alden Robinson, with Ben Affleck, Morgen Freeman and James Cromwell in the main roles, had it appeared in America and the world a year ago, it would have been an extremely successful film, which is built on the theory of nuclear catastrophe and the Third World War that could exterminate humanity and destroy the whole world.

The plot of the tale

"The Sum of all Fears", a year ago would have been a film that manipulates a theoretical possibility which, however, from the old perspective would seem far from reality. Because of this, Hollywood could say that this is all, in the last instance, entertainment and art and that there is no room for great concern.

After September 11 and the terrorist attack of Bin Laden's Al Qaeda on America, things have changed radically, everywhere: in Washington, in New York, in Brussels and anyway in Hollywood.

Hollywood has never faced a greater challenge. America and the rest of the world are dependent on Hollywood, but Hollywood, as never before, is dependent on political and historical developments that cannot be ignored. After 11/XNUMX, Hollywood couldn't go on like nothing happened. Thus, the catastrophic scenes, explosions of all kinds, sophisticated and computerized pyrotechnics, which were one of the pillars of the mass entertainment industry, could no longer be used without giving them a meaning, a meaning that led to the conclusion of misdirection. on terrorism. The "dream factory", as Hollywood is commonly called, was forced to face the nightmarish reality.

After the horror of the WTC (World Trade Center) collapse, which was real and not a movie scene, this horror was broadcast live on CNN and was not part of a virtual computer reality, Hollywood was faced with the necessity of major conceptual changes . Americans no longer had a clear distance between film and reality, between entertainment and single-mindedness. For this reason, Warner Bros., one of the most powerful film companies, immediately after September 11, decided to postpone the premiere of the film "Collateral Damage", with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the main role. In this film, the fireman takes revenge on the terrorists who killed his family. When the film began airing in the spring of that year, Schwarzenegger, in his justification for showing it, emphasized that the American public wants to see the American victory over terrorism. Otherwise, in the meantime, the most successful films in the world were "The Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter", which are screened fairy tales. The scheme of the tale seems to be more acceptable to America and the West at the time of dealing with terrorism, the greatest evil in recent history, after the end of the Cold War. In the fairy tale, as you know, a good order is suddenly destroyed by the forces of evil. The forces of good then descend upon them to restore good order. Fairy tales always have a happy ending.

The bomb that is bought for $400 and sold for $50 million

But let's go back to the movie "The Sum of all Fears". Here is its content. In 1973, Israel is suddenly attacked by Egypt and Syria, who in this way intend to return the territories lost in the war of 1967. On the second day of fighting, Israel, for the first time since it was established as a state, is faced with the risk of defeat in war. For this reason, a plane is sent to observe, carrying with it an atomic bomb, which must be used if Israel is left with nothing else. But, during the flight, the plane is hit by a missile and crashes in the desert. The atomic bomb, covered in sand, is discovered by two Arab villagers 29 years later. The event now takes place in 2002.

An arms smuggler, who has advance information about the downing of the Israeli plane, buys the bomb for $400 and lures it for $50 million to a neo-Nazi group, which has clear goals: To use this bomb to attack America, creating the circumstances to blame Russia for this attack. The consequences of this provocation are easily predictable: America would attack Russia, Russia would defend itself, World War III would break out, and thus, after the nuclear horror, the world would be ruled by neo-Nazis. Even the real political situation in relations between America and Russia is worthy of this conspiracy by an Austrian neo-Nazi. In Russia, after the death of the old president who was always ill (the allusions to Boris Yeltsin are obvious), comes another one, who is much more energetic, but who is not very clear in his policy towards America and The West (Vladimir Putin, Yeltsin's heir, can also be drawn here). This, in the absence of real control over the Russian Army, faces a big problem in Chechnya, where three pro-communist Russian generals, without even asking him, use chemical weapons in the war against the Chechens. Many Chechen civilians suffer in this attack. But the Russian president is forced to defend his generals and publicly declares that he is behind this attack.

Washington here decides that peacekeeping forces should be sent to Chechnya.

In such a tense atmosphere, three Russian scientists who no longer work for the Government of Russia assemble the fuses in the Israeli atomic bomb in Ukraine. The conspirators then send the bomb to Baltimore, America. It should explode in the super final of the American football (rugby) championship, in the presence of over 70 people and the President of the USA himself and his closest associates. Just before the explosion, the main protagonist of the film, a CIA agent and expert on Russian affairs (played by Ben Affleck), discovers what is going to happen and alerts his boss (played by Morgan Freeman) in order to save the Chairman of the America. But, the bomb explodes: Viewers thus see the terrible figure of the "atomic mushroom" over Baltimore. Next, the American President entered Air Force One from where he commands the situation. Suspicion goes to Moscow, which is why an attack with conventional means is ordered to destroy the vast majority of Russia's nuclear arsenal. America and the world thus find themselves in front of the apocalyptic scenario, so much mentioned during the Cold War, which in one case was really close to becoming a reality, during the Cuban crisis of 1962. This crisis was decently screened in last year's film "Thirteen Days". by Roger Donaldson, starring Kevin Costner.

Once again the world is saved

In "The Sum of all Fears", thanks to one man, the CIA Agent, who communicates by e-mail with the President of Russia, the world is saved. Both sides understand that they have been prey to a terrorist group. Conspirators are liquidated without a trial, America and Russia sign a new agreement on cooperation and reduction of nuclear weapons, the film ends with a Happy End. Nowhere is it mentioned how many victims America had from the atomic attack in Baltimore. Chechnya is no longer discussed, neither is Israel and the Arab issue, where the whole story begins.

Once again, a man saves the world, as in many Hollywood films. This is more difficult for anyone to believe. But we know from the news of the day that a man accompanied by fanatics can do everything in the world.

Such a detailed report of the content of the film "The Sum of all Fears" seems to us to be very important to understand the present intention of this film. It is clear that the film has undergone major changes as a result of the events of September 11, namely, we do not believe that the original intention was what is presented now. On the one hand, with the atomic attack on an American city, new dangers are warned in the terrorist war against America, and here, the director and producers of the film almost quote American officials. On the other hand, the director and producers deliberately ignore the consequences of the explosion of the atomic bomb in a large American city, because the viewers could be horrified by the consequences of such an attack. An American film critic says that this was done because "The Sum of all Fears" is no longer a thriller, but a "confirmer", a confirmer of the real dangers that threaten the USA. But, in the end, America manages to win in this war, thanks to the cooperation with Russia, the enemy no. 1 for 50 years in a row who deserved the quality "Evil Empire" (the last one who used this classification was Ronald Reagan, President of America in the years 1980-1988).

The current American political scheme is almost photocopied in the movie "The Sum of all Fears": The war against terrorism is the beginning and the end of this policy. In this war, Russia is an ally, no one has to worry about Chechnya, while in the case of the conflict between Israel and the Arabs, America should not have a very important role.

But this conclusion, at least from the perspective of the film "The Sum of all Fears", is logically belied by the very first opening scenes of the film and its subsequent flow: The problematic bomb emerges as a result of the unfinished war between Israel and Arab countries. This is where the "Apple of strife" is found. It is perhaps worth noting that in this account of the Israeli atomic bomb being lost in the desert, there is as much naivety as you like and an approach that does not correspond at all to reality: No one can imagine that the Israeli Government would leave without recovery, with all possible means, an atomic bomb which could fall into the hands of hostile countries who could then use it for their own purposes. You remember that Israel in the eighties bombed the nuclear reactors in Iraq, worried about the possibility of Iraq producing atomic bombs. There is considerable naivety when describing the relationship between Washington and Moscow, etc., etc.

But it seems that "The Sum of all Fears", even in this way, unfolds the consequences of the terrorist attack of September 11. One of them is the confusion, the other is the necessity of reviewing the strategic orientation of the American foreign policy, which, in fact, is an internal security policy that crosses the borders to become a "Monroe Doctrine" of the XNUMXth century : America must act anywhere in the world, where its security is threatened. /Telegraph/

 

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