How ironic and extraordinarily well-planned that around 11:30 last night on NBC a trailer popped up for a movie that will not be released until January 15. What a supreme coincidence that the subject of the movie is the terrorist attacks on the U.S. compounds in Benghazi. Many will cite moments from the hearing, but the real WTF moment occurred after it ended with the appearance of the trailer for this movie.
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016)
An American Ambassador is killed during an attack at a U.S. compound in Libya as a security team struggles to make sense out of the chaos.
Director: Michael Bay
Writers: Chuck Hogan (screenplay), Mitchell Zuckoff (book)
The trailer appeared a little more than 13 hours from the moment Hillary Clinton commenced her testimony before the House Select committee. Disturbing. What is the basis for this movie? Like Argo and Zero Dark Thirty, it is billed as “based on a true story,” but there is a subtle difference between “a true story” and “based on a true story.”
Since I had never heard such a movie was in production and had never heard of the book on which it is based, I, of course, googled and found this.
Politicians, bloggers and social-media users bemoan ‘typical action movie all about American heroism’ that paints locals as ‘fanatical and ignorant’
Furious Libyans have criticised a Michael Bay movie about the fatal 2012 attack on the US embassy in Benghazi for playing up the heroism of American soldiers and ignoring the contribution of local people.
The first trailer for Bay’s action thriller 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi has caused uproar in Libya’s second-largest city after it was circulated on social media, with government officials, bloggers and Facebook users lining up to criticise the film.
SNIP
The US release of 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, which stars John Krasinski, James Badge Dale, Max Martini, Toby Stephens and Pablo Schreiber, has also been caught up in controversy surrounding Hillary Clinton’s current US presidential run. Clinton, who was US secretary of state at the time of the Benghazi attack, has been accused by Republicans of using a private email account to conduct government business during the period. The January release of Bay’s film, two weeks before the Iowa caucuses, constitutes poor timing in terms of the former first lady’s campaign – especially if Bay’s film proves a big hit at the box office.
Those who purchased the air time at NBC arguably had no way to know how long yesterday’s testimony would last. Had clock-watcher nonpareil Linda Sanchez not asked how late the proceedings were going to continue last night, we all might still have been tuned to C-SPAN, and I would not have seen the trailer. Linda remained conscientiously within her allotted time throughout while the chairman routinely allowed Republicans to go well beyond – often by more than four minutes. We can speculate that had Lynn Westmoreland been allowed another round, he again would have asked why the secretary did not send in FEST, and Hillary would have retained her consistently patient demeanor and explained again that he misunderstood what FEST is and does. She clearly was prepared to stay as long as necessary.
Given that some Republicans appeared to think another round of questions was coming, it seemed a little abrupt and anti-climactic when Trey Gowdy suddenly called the session to a close as it was about to enter the 12th hour. Sort of like he waved a white flag. “We surrender, Hillary! We cannot outlast you or trip you up.”
Until I saw the trailer, I did not realize how close the hearing came to the duration of the attacks. I am pretty sure Hillary and many committee members were aware of that. As for the background of this movie, its accuracy, intent, and the money behind it, there are many questions. If all we know right now is that residents of Benghazi are angered, that is enough to arouse suspicion since we all remember that it was the Libyans who found Chris Stevens and moved him to a hospital. They knew him and liked him, and if they are insulted by this film, something here rankles.
That the release comes in the eleventh hour before the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries implies a nefarious intent and yet another shameful use of this tragedy as a political tool.
Somehow I can predict that this post will go largely ignored while everyone celebrates Hillary’s great week with “This Girl’s on Fire!” posters. Fiddling while Rome burns. We need to get to the bottom of this movie mystery.
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Update: 11/10/15
They played an extended ad ( two-minutes) for 13 Hours in the middle of tonight’s debate.
TPM Livewire
Ad For Michael Bay’s ‘Benghazi’ Thriller Plays During GOP Debate Break
Within minutes, Michael Bay was trending on Twitter. Fortunately, many tweets were about how fishy this convergence was but not all were negative by a long shot.
I’d be shocked if any movie has the power to change the outcome of the Iowa caucuses. But if that’s the intent, I have to be confident Hillary and her campaign will be prepared. They have no illusions what’s being done to try to stop her from being president.
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But how many people knew this movie was coming? I never heard anything about it until last night. Many people believe “Zero Dark Thirty” is an accurate account of the hunt for OBL. Only those who have seen “Manhunt” on HBO know differently. If this has any of the impact of “Zero Dark Thirty” and “Argo” it will have the capacity to create a lot of doubt and move a lot of votes. There are a great many who watch movies, believe the “based on a true story” ones, and did not bother to watch yesterday or even care about it. Yes, this absolutely can have an effect, and it is hard for a campaign to be prepared in the face of a hit movie tsunami.
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I had heard there was a Benghazi movie coming out, so this wasn’t news to me. And my initial impression wasn’t that it was necessarily meant to go after Hillary, although I admittedly know very little about it.
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It looks very fishy to me, not to mention the timing of that trailer months before the movie releases. Betting there is Koch money behind it.
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Koch, Adelson, Citizens United and the like, did this for every race. Senate runs even. Sounds like a right wing audience film.
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Has it ever been a feature film though? I don’t know these actors, but it has the look of a typical action movie.
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john kasinski’s been in a lot of movies. that name i recognize.
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Rachel Maddow and Andrea Mitchell.seem to have formed a collaboration lately. They appear together in support roles.
Maddow had interesting questions. Hillary had generated excitement because Rachel was genuinely excited at getting the gig.
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That said, Maddow is still drunk on the koolaid and hasn’t even had the hangover yet from “The political miracle….” (You know how that sentence ended.) Those who think Hillary was relaxed and laid back apparently couldn’t tell she was sitting on a pincushion. This was more stressful than all 11 hours yesterday. Glad it is over and went well.
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