The Academy Voters Can’t Deal With Reality of ‘Three Kings’

Tell me it wasn’t political when, in choosing Oscar nominees, members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences imposed a total blackout on “Three Kings.”

That’s the film that dared to criticize George Bush Sr. for telling anti-Saddam Hussein Iraqi militants at the end of the Gulf War in 1991 that if they’d rise up against their tyrant, he’d help them--and then left them to twist in the wind.

That’s what the academy did to George Clooney and a truly outstanding ensemble cast, along with all the other courageous and talented people who crafted a very good picture. Sure, there was plenty of competition this time around, but at the very least there should have been recognition in some category--including people like David O. Russell, who directed and wrote the screenplay from a story by John Ridley, and producers Charles Roven, Paul Junger Witt and Edward L. McDonnell.

Well, who cares? The Gulf War is ancient history. It was our first high-tech, high-altitude war in which few Americans were killed in combat. That’s the kind we love. We won. What else matters?

What matters is that the Gulf War--now a stealth war--is still going on in the form of continuing sanctions against Iraq. And somebody cares. Hans von Sponeck cares. He was the top United Nations official in charge of distributing humanitarian aid in Iraq. He resigned a few days ago, saying, “The sanctions are taking their toll on the wrong people in every respect.”

Von Sponeck is the second person in two years to quit that job for the same reason: The sanctions are hurting the general population and enriching the elite while doing nothing to bring down Hussein. Meanwhile, children die by the hundreds each week from diseases associated with malnutrition and lack of medical care. A U.N. report says the child mortality rate has doubled since the sanctions were imposed.

What has this to do with “Three Kings”? Everything. Because it asked people to think about the consequences of one of our trumpeted greatest military victories. This victory nine years later is still laying a heavy toll on the Iraqi people while the bad guy remains in power.

But trying to think about all this can make your head hurt, as “Three Kings” may have done to some people. In the Hollywood fairyland of make-believe, the weird and the supernatural are frequently honored. But sometimes reality just doesn’t cut it. How sad.

Saul Halpert, a resident of Sherman Oaks, is a former print, radio and TV news reporter who now does freelance writing and consulting on media and political issues.