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Passion and Emotion
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"I think Roberto Benigni is a brilliant film-maker and a brilliant comedian. However…" James Moll paused before delivering judgment on Life is Beautiful. "It's a distorted view of history. "I wish the film had given a more accurate portrayal of the concentration camps. It is unfortunate that it could potentially allow someone to say they weren't so bad. There are many people who don't have much education on the Holocaust, and it will be unfortunate that they'll see such an unrealistic portrayal." |
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Moll's own Shoah documentary, The Last Days (handled worldwide by Good Screen International), screened here earlier this week. He was still trying to unravel exactly what audiences made of the film. "One thing is for sure: it raised tremendous passion and emotion," he said. "I shouldn't be surprised by the reaction, but I am. They were people who disliked it, but that may not be for the reasons they claimed." At the press conference, he noted, there were people shouting at each other across the room. "They seemed to lose sight of what we were talking about and were just venting emotions." |
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Having spent five years on The Last Days, Moll is now changing tack. He is to produce two films for DreamWorks. One, The Ghosts Of October, is a western. The other, which he will direct, is a family drama. Geoffrey Macnab |