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Arts and Culture

Colombian Hostage Drama Becomes Big-Screen Drama

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Posted on Jul 8, 2008
Betancourt freed
AP photo / William Fernando Martinez

The commander of Colombia’s Army, Gen. Mario Montoya, right, embraces former hostage Ingrid Betancourt as Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos stands behind after Betancourt’s arrival to a military base in Bogota after being rescued from six years of captivity, Wednesday, July 2, 2008.

Well, that didn’t take long: Just a week after former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages were rescued from their FARC captors by Colombian forces, plans are in the works to make a movie version of the story, with Simon Brand on board to direct the drama.


The Hollywood Reporter:

Colombian filmmaker Simon Brand, whose credits include “Unknown” and Colombia’s highest-grossing movie “Paradise Travel,” is working with the producers to develop and direct the project, which has no writer on board yet. The producers are also looking to meet with financiers and studios in the coming weeks.

Betancourt, a former presidential candidate of Colombian and French descent, along with three Americans as well as Colombian police and soldiers, were held captive—some since 2002—by rebels form the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC. Colombian forces took acting lessons and spent months planting themselves among the rebels before culminating in a mission that saw the rebels tricked into thinking the captives were being transferred to another camp.

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By wagonjak, July 16, 2008 at 11:30 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Check out this article from El Nacional in the Dominican Republic…apparently this was another hoax to make the Columbian government look like heros and to help Bush here in the US…

http://watchingamerica.com/News/1835/there-was-no-rescue/

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By Marc Schlee, July 12, 2008 at 12:40 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Who will they get to play John McCain?  The GOP is gearing up to push him as the prime mover behind the hostage rescue.

FREE AMERICA

DIRECT DEMOCRACY

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By jc, July 11, 2008 at 2:00 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

I am curious why we have only heard about Ms Betancourt and none of the other hostages?
They were all held at the same time and recused at the same times and we do not even know their names or nothing about them.

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By samosamo, July 8, 2008 at 9:08 pm Link to this comment

Just what america needs, a movie version of some people’s tragic experience. Of course that is the only way to give the veggies in this country a ‘romantic’ account of the captivity. Maybe angelina will play the star role, or every body can vote on who plays the star role. Certainly the only way to get apathetic people to see what is kinda going on in the world.

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By P. T., July 8, 2008 at 8:53 pm Link to this comment

Here is an interesting article about the so-called “rescue.”  It is regarding a story that appeared in the Venezuelan press that maintains the “rescue” was phony.  Click (and then scroll down a little) http://www.counterpunch.org/ross07072008.html

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