Films Seek to Counterbalance Liberal Fare

In a scene from a movie called “Terminal Island,” a young man is being strangled by a hooded terrorist.

The man pleads for his life, saying, “I’m a liberal, I’m your friend, I’m here to help you. You’ll never make it in this town without me.”

The film, a thriller, was shown Saturday in West Hollywood as part of the three-day Liberty Film Festival, billed as the first to cater to conservatives.

“There is a hunger for and a marketplace [in film] for people with conservative opinions,” said Jason Apuzzo, the film’s director and festival co-organizer.

“I’m personally exhausted by all the remakes, the sequels and the comic book movies while the war on terror -- the preeminent event of our times -- is undiscussed,” he said. “I think it’s not healthy.”

The festival included a short featuring antiwar protesters using less than peaceful language, a behind-the-scenes film on conservative pundit Ann Coulter and several documentaries about Iraq, with one aimed at debunking Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

The mention of Moore’s name usually prompted a round of good-natured boos from the crowd of several hundred. Any mention of President Bush generated cheers, even when it came during a movie.

But often the festival was just as much a symposium on how to get a film produced. And even those who reviled Moore said the financial success of his documentary showed there is a huge appetite among filmgoers for political fare.

Another issue was values; many audience members said they believed that Hollywood movies no longer reflected real people and the lives they lead.

Instead, some attendees complained, the entertainment industry serves up heaps of gratuitous sex and violence.

Among today’s screenings at the Pacific Design Center is a film titled “Brainwashing 101,” described in the program as a “frightening, funny, behind-the-scenes account of how today’s colleges have become left-wing indoctrination centers.” The festival is closing with a screening of Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments.”

Perhaps the most revealing discussion came Saturday morning, when panel members and the audience tackled the question: Do liberals really have control of what films get made?

Apuzzo argued that liberals stand in the way of movies that offer points of view different from their own.

He cited three movies released this year with overtly liberal views: “The Manchurian Candidate,” with its thinly veiled and unflattering references to Halliburton; the global warming disaster flick “The Day After Tomorrow,” which had a Dick Cheney look-alike in the role of vice president; and “Silver City,” which plopped a character similar to President Bush into a tale of political corruption set in Colorado.

Victor Elizalde, a Sony film executive and Republican candidate for Congress in the 30th District, which covers most of the Westside, said most studios decide which films to make based on a project’s creative values and its prospects for performing well financially.

“I’m an accountant. I don’t know a lot about the film business, but I think there is some part of the industry that is promoting the liberal agenda,” said Scott Wiley, 35, of Beverly Hills. “I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t care what the film has to say, but I won’t go to films featuring certain actors” who promote liberal agendas.

He provided two examples: Julia Roberts and Ben Affleck. “For some reason, people listen to these idiots,” he said.

Arvin Wallace, 33, who works as a caterer on film and TV shoots, is a Republican. But he said that he didn’t think liberals were slanting movies.

“I’m disgusted the conversation has turned toward a conspiratorial tone,” Wallace said. “I don’t believe Hollywood executives are pushing trash” because of politics. “I believe they’re pushing trash because it makes money.”