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The Siege is a 1998 film about a fictional situation where terrorist cells have made several attacks on New York City. It was directed by Edward Zwick and stars Denzel Washington, Bruce Willis, Annette Bening, and Tony Shalhoub. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (555x755, 96 KB) Licensing This image is of a movie poster, and the copyright for it is most likely owned by either the publisher of the movie or the studio which produced the movie in question. ...
Edward Zwick (born October 8, 1952 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American film director and film producer. ...
Lynda Obst is a feature film producer. ...
Edward Zwick (born October 8, 1952 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American film director and film producer. ...
Lawrence Wright is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author, screenwriter and a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, and a current fellow at the Center for Law and Security at the New York University School of Law. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. ...
Annette Bening (born May 29, 1958) is an American Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning actress. ...
Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955 in Idar-Oberstein, Germany) is an American actor and singer. ...
Tony Shalhoub (born October 9, 1953) is a three-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe-winning American television and film actor. ...
David Proval (born May 20, 1942 as David Aaron Proval) is an American actor, known for his role as Richie Aprile on the HBO television series The Sopranos. ...
Graeme Revell was born in New Zealand in 1955. ...
Roger Deakins (born May 24, 1949 in Torquay, Devon, England) has established himself as a successful cinematographer in America and Britain. ...
Steven Rosenblum is an ACE-certified film editor. ...
Twentieth (20th) Century Fox Film Corporation (known from 1935 to 1985 as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation) is one of the six major American film studios. ...
is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ...
The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...
The Siege is a 1998 film directed by Edward Zwick and starring Denzel Washington, Bruce Willis, Annette Bening, and Tony Shalhoub. ...
Edward Zwick (born October 8, 1952 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American film director and film producer. ...
Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. ...
Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955 in Idar-Oberstein, Germany) is an American actor and singer. ...
Annette Bening (born May 29, 1958) is an American Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning actress. ...
Tony Shalhoub (born October 9, 1953) is a three-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe-winning American television and film actor. ...
Plot summary
FBI Special Agent Anthony Hubbard (Washington), and his partner who happens to be an Arab, Frank Haddad (Shalhoub), are called to the scene of a terrorist crisis in New York City, where hostages are being held aboard a bus containing a bomb. The bomb turns out to be false, but the FBI receives a phone call stating that there will be real bombs unless the religious leader Sheik Ahmed Bin Talal, kidnapped in the Middle East by the US government, is freed. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a federal criminal investigative, intelligence agency, and the primary investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ...
// Any federal criminal or non-criminal investigator or detective in the 1811, 1801, 2501 or similar job series as so titled according to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) handbook. ...
Terrorist redirects here. ...
New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ...
The first real bomb is also aboard a bus. Hubbard gets the terrorists to release all the children on the bus, but despite further attempts to negotiate, the bomb explodes, killing everyone still aboard. A CIA agent, Elise Kraft, involved with her own agency's investigation of the bombing, shows up but will not give Hubbard any details. However, she introduces him to Samir, an Arab CIA informant. Kraft and Samir are lovers, and had worked together during the Gulf War where Kraft organized a group of men to rise against the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, until funding was cut. Samir admits to knowing one of the suicide bombers after Hubbard shows proof of contact. However, Kraft insists that Samir is not a terrorist, and that his continued freedom is vital to the investigation. Samir, fearing retribution, refuses to talk. The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ...
For other uses, see Iraq war (disambiguation). ...
Nonetheless, the FBI locates the first cell and takes them out in a shootout, unaware of a second sleeper cell which then becomes activated and bombs a theater. A third cell bombs the offices of the FBI Counterterrorism Division at One Federal Plaza. The FBI Counterterrorism Division is the division of the FBI that deals with terrorist threats inside the United States. ...
The Federal Government seeks options. Major General William Devereaux (Willis) insists that the Army is not the right "tool" for this job, being a "broad sword not a scalpel." Hubbard recommends continued use of the FBI to seek out and neutralize the suspects. Nonetheless, the President declares martial law, and the Army, under Major General Devereaux, occupies and seals off Brooklyn in an effort to find the remaining terrorist cells. Subsequently, all young males of Arab descent, including Haddad's son, are rounded up and detained in a makeshift prison camp in a stadium. Haddad quits the FBI. New Yorkers stage violent demonstrations against the army and the singling out of the Arabs, and the Army fights to maintain control. There are reports of Army killings. For other uses, see Martial law (disambiguation). ...
The United States Army is the largest and oldest branch of the armed forces of the United States. ...
Hubbard and Kraft, whose true name is revealed to be Sharon Bridger, continuing their investigation, capture a suspect, Tureq Husseini, but Devereaux takes custody of him and tortures and kills him in an interrogation, against the objections of Hubbard. After this Bridger tells Hubbard that Husseini knew nothing and, sickened, finally tells Hubbard what she knows. She and Hubbard compel Samir to arrange a meeting with the final terrorist cell. Hubbard convinces Haddad he needs his help and his return to the FBI.
A peaceful march including all ethnic groups in New York demonstrating against the occupation of Brooklyn is getting under way. When Bridger and Samir arrive at the meeting place, Samir reveals that he himself is the final cell. He straps a bomb to his body which he intends to detonate amongst the marchers. Hubbard and Haddad arrive in time, but Samir fatally shoots Bridger as she struggles to stop him, and Hubbard kills Samir.
Hubbard, accompanied by other FBI agents, places Devereaux under arrest for the torture and murder of Turiq Husseini. Devereaux declares himself to be the law, and commands his soldiers to aim their guns at the FBI agents resulting in a Mexican standoff. Hubbard reminds Devereaux that the civil liberties and human rights which he took from Husseini are what all his predecessors have fought and died for. Devereaux finally submits to arrest. Martial law ends, and the detainees are freed, including Haddad's son. A photomanipulation depicting a mexican standoff. ...
Cast Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. ...
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a federal criminal investigative, intelligence agency, and the primary investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ...
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the primary investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), serving as both a federal criminal investigative body and a domestic intelligence agency. ...
Annette Bening (born May 29, 1958 in Topeka, Kansas, USA) is an American actress. ...
The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ...
Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955 in Idar-Oberstein, Germany) is an American actor and singer. ...
The Army is the branch of the United States armed forces which has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ...
Insignia of a United States Air Force Major General German Generalmajor Insignia Major General is a military rank used in many countries. ...
Tony Shalhoub (born October 9, 1953) is a three-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe-winning American television and film actor. ...
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a federal criminal investigative, intelligence agency, and the primary investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ...
Analysis | | This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (September 2007) | The most controversial event depicted in the film is probably the mass internment of all young Arab men living in Brooklyn. This part of the story was presumably inspired by the mass internment of Japanese people living on the West Coast of the USA during WW II. Image File history File links Emblem-important. ...
Jerome War Relocation Center in Jerome, Arkansas Japanese people heading off to an internment camp. ...
Although released nearly three years before the September 11th attacks, some elements of the film can be seen as prescient, such as the depiction of attacks on New York City by Islamist terrorists, including attacks on US government buildings. It also seemed to predict the anti-arabism in the USA that occurred following 9/11.[1] A sequential look at United Flight 175 crashing into the south tower of the World Trade Center The September 11, 2001 attacks (often referred to as 9/11—pronounced nine eleven or nine one one) consisted of a series of coordinated terrorist[1] suicide attacks upon the United States, predominantly...
This article contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ...
Anti-Arabism is a term that refers to prejudice or hostility against people from Arabic origin. ...
"Blowback" is a key theme of the film. "Blowback" is a CIA term used to describe the unintended consequences of their covert operations abroad.[2] In the film, U.S. foreign policy in Iraq plays a clear role in the terrorists' motives. The CIA supported Sheik Ahmed bin Talal and his followers' efforts to overthrow Saddam Hussein. To this end, the CIA taught his followers tradecraft, subversion and how to make bombs. Following a "policy shift", America stopped helping them, and Hussein slaughtered many of Talal's followers. Some of them, however, escaped to the United States and turned their frustration and resentment against the United States government. Blowback is a term now broadly used in espionage to describe the unintended consequences of covert operations. ...
This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...
Other ways in which The Siege presages 9/11 is the way that a major terrorist attack results in loss of civil liberties, and the lack of cooperation between American government agencies, in particular the FBI and CIA.[3] Civil liberties is the name given to freedoms that protect the individual from government. ...
Interestingly, the script for The Siege was written by Lawrence Wright, who later, several years after 9/11, wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Looming Tower about Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden and the 9/11 attack. This book highlights how the failure of the FBI and CIA to cooperate prevented them from uncovering the 9/11 terrorists and their plot until it was too late. Lawrence Wright is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author, screenwriter and a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, and a current fellow at the Center for Law and Security at the New York University School of Law. ...
The Pulitzer Prize is an American award regarded as the highest national honor in print journalism, literary achievements, and musical composition. ...
The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 is historical look at the way in which Al Qaeda came into being, the background for various terrorist attacks and how they were investigated, and the events that led to the 9/11-2001 terrorist attacks on the United...
Al-Qaeda (Arabic: القاعدة, the foundation or the base) is the name given to a worldwide network of militant Islamist organizations under the leadership of Osama bin Laden. ...
Osama bin Muhammad bin Awad bin Laden (Arabic: ‎; born March 10, 1957[1]), most often mentioned as Osama bin Laden or Usama bin Laden, is a Saudi Arabian militant Islamist and is widely believed to be one of the founders of the organization called al-Qaeda. ...
Controversy When the film opened, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee came out against the film. Its spokesman Hussein Ibish said “The Siege is extremely offensive. It's beyond offensive. We're used to offensive, that's become a daily thing. This is actually dangerous." He thought it was “Insidious and incendiary” because it “reinforces stereotypes that lead to hate crimes.” Ibish acknowledged that Arab terrorists did, in fact, bomb the World Trade Center in 1993, but said that Arab and Islamic groups are upset by "the very strong equation between Muslim religious practices and terrorism. ...[Thanks to this film] Every time someone goes through the Muslim ablution, the ritual washing of hands everybody does before they pray five times a day, that image is the announcement to the viewer of the presence of violence.” Echoing such criticism the Council on American-Islamic Relations protested that "In this film, the Muslims have total disregard for human life." The groups were “faxing and calling news organizations on a regular basis” to voice their concerns.[4] The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is a United States grassroots civil rights organization founded in Washington, DC by U.S. Senator James Abourezk in 1980. ...
For the 2001 attack and destruction of the World Trade Center, see September 11, 2001 attacks. ...
The Council for an American Islamic Republic(CAIR) is an Islamic advocacy group in North America, funded by American Muslims and also in significant part by sources with connections to Arab Middle Eastern governments. ...
Director Edward Zwick had met with Arab Americans, “who suggested that the story be changed to mirror the situation after the Oklahoma City bombing, when Arabs were immediately assumed responsible. That idea was rejected”. Zwick noted that The Siege's villains also include members of the U.S. government, and dismissed the criticism “Anytime you talk about issues that touch on religion of any kind, you can anticipate this kind of reaction. Should we only present every group as paragons and monoliths of virtue? The movie inspires to engender this kind of dialogue. I happen to come from the school that thinks that movies should not only make you comfortable, they might make you think. …You can anticipate any kind of reaction in these times in which sensitivity seems very high in the culture. I have a friend who says, if you've not offended somebody, you're a nobody. …How does it feel to be a lightning rod? It gets the blood going. I think it's better than being universally ignored. In a culture where there seems to be so much to talk about, it's good to be talked about."[4] Edward Zwick (born October 8, 1952 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American film director and film producer. ...
In a Sept. 2007 interview[5], screenwriter Lawrence Wright is quoted as saying:
- "It (The Siege) was a box office failure, but it was the most rented movie in America after 9/11." He gave as an explanation of its box office failure that "Muslim and Arab protestors picketed the theaters. They were furious at being stereotyped as terrorists."
Lawrence Wright also tells that a restaurant in Capetown, South Africa, was bombed in August 1998: - "A radical Islamist group claimed credit for this bombing at Planet Hollywood, which cost the lives of two British tourists. A little girl lost her leg. And they said they were protesting the trailers that were in the theaters for The Siege in America."
External links The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ...
This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...
Metacritic is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows, DVDs and books. ...
Box Office Mojo is a website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic way. ...
See also This is a list of fictional stories in which politics features as an important plot element. ...
Three Kings is a 1999 American film directed and written by David O. Russell from a story by John Ridley about a gold heist. ...
For other uses, see Iraq war (disambiguation). ...
Sources - ^ FBI UCR (Uniform Crime Reporting) for 2001 for Hate Crimes Downloadable PDF -large file (12 MB, 144 pages), takes a lot of time to complete download before becoming browseable)
- ^ MSNBC article on Bin Laden and blowback [1]
- ^ CIA failure to inform FBI and Immigration Services about Nawaf Alhamzi and Khalid Almihdhar San Diego North County Times
- ^ a b Muslims feel under siege from Hollywood (November 5, 1998).
- ^ Reporting The Bin Laden Beat CBS News, Sept. 10, 2007
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