By now nearly everyone knows about James Franco’s and Seth Rogen’s movie “The Interview” and all the controversy it has stirred all over the world.
In the last month, the film has gone from screened in select theaters, to available online for a fee, and to available on Netflix to stream. Essentially going from an obstacle to view the film, to then easy as it gets and then somehow even easier then that. With over 57 million Netflix subscribers according to Netflix.com, it’s hard to think this movie isn’t being viewed by a majority of Netflix subscribers.
The film’s plot was widely advertised and the source of this huge controversy. The film features all fictional main characters aside from very well known one, the antagonist. The film’s plot consists of a journalist miraculously acquiring an interview with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un and an attempt to assassinate the Leader.
Pamela Ballanti is a Education major at Cal State Northridge as well as an elementary school teacher at Betrand Elementary. Ballanti is seeing the movie merely due to curiosity but has mixed feelings towards the film.
“When I first heard about this movie I thought ‘I am not sure this a good idea’,” said Ballanti.
The film was pulled from theaters Dec. 17 2014, less than two weeks until it’s Christmas day release due to an unknown group hacking into Sony’s database. The hackers acquired information on thousands of Sony employees. Theaters showing the movie were then threatened to what is believed to be the same terrorist group behind the hacking.
This film has grabbed the worlds attention as even U.S. President Barack Obama was quoted in press conference “I think [Sony] made a mistake. We cannot have a society, in which some dictator somewhere, some place can start imposing censorship here in the United States.”
The movie however is a comedy and in no way a serious story of an actual or potential assassination. It is also one of many movies to depict or involve the death of a real world leader. It joins other comedies like “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut” depicting the death of Sadam Hussein and “Team America: World Police” with Kim Jong un’s father Kim Jong il as the anatagonist. Both these films were made by Matt Stone & Trey Parker, made to simply entertain, just as Franco and Rogen intended for their film.
These movies caused nothing close to the backlash “The Interview” has seen.
On the more serious side, “Day of the Jackal”, is a film about the assassination of former French President Charles de Gaulle. While there have been dozens of film with the death of Adolf Hitler. One of which “Man Hunt” was released in the United States prior to US involvement in WWII.
“I think it says something interesting about North Korea that they decided to have the state mount an all out assault on a movie studio,” said President Obama. “Because of a satirical movie starring Seth Rogen and James (Franco).”
