The Kingdom (2007)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0431197/

– What is Predictive Programming?
– Alan Watt – Predictive Programming; Theory and Practice
– Vyzygoth Interviews Phillip and Paul Collins – Invoking the Beyond (Predictive Programming)

This is what I wrote earlier on this movie:

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You can expect a shameless propagation of the fashionable but phony “genuine flag” terroristic paradigm but, if only for sake of propaganda analysis, it may be worth the watch just the same… It certainly was put together well from a cinematographic point of view. The FBI arrives in Saudi Arabia to mop up the mess of the consequences of a type of warfare the CIA started… Ironic yet typical. 😉

This is what looks to be an ‘official’ synopsis:

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When a terrorist bomb detonates inside a Western housing compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, an international incident is ignited. While diplomats slowly debate equations of territorialism, FBI Special Agent Ronald Fleury quickly assembles an elite team and negotiates a secret five-day trip into Saudi Arabia to locate the madman behind the bombing. Upon landing in the desert kingdom, however, Fleury and his team discover Saudi authorities suspicious and unwelcoming of American interlopers into what they consider a local matter. Hamstrung by protocol-and with the clock ticking on their five days-the FBI agents find their expertise worthless without the trust of their Saudi counterparts, who want to locate the terrorist in their homeland on their own terms. Fleury’s crew finds a like-minded partner in Saudi Colonel Al-Ghazi, who helps them navigate royal politics and unlock the secrets of the crime scene and the workings of an extremist cell bent on further destruction. With these unlikely allies sharing a propulsive commitment to crack the case, the team is led to the killer’s front door in a blistering do-or-die confrontation. Now in a fight for their own lives, strangers united by one mission won’t stop until justice is found in The Kingdom. Written by Universal Pictures

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0431197/plotsummary

Thematic PP elements:

1. A terroristic attack has been launched against American “guest workers” (?) somewhere in Saudi Arabia. Paranoia’s everywhere after the attack, both the feds and Saudis are constantly on the edge by their anticipation of new terroristic attacks. This of course is the whole intention of terror, by definition: it’s to scare the living daylights out of the public and pictures like these serve that purpose well.
2. The mainstream media condoned doctrine of the phantom terrorist leader is once again shamelessly propagated as there is a comparison of the terrorist responsible for the attack, Abu Hamza, with Osama bin Laden, the much media touted elusive terrorist leader.
3. Of course, the FBI magically manages to dodge all bullets shot at them while they in turn wreak havoc on the assailants, killing most of them. This helps to perpetuate the false belief that American blood is more invulnerable than that of Arabs, thus helping to facilitate easier Army recruitment among naive and unsuspecting young Americans.

Specific PP elements:

1. In one of the opening scenes there’s this little boy, the son of the FBI team leader, playing with a toy replica of a fighter helicopter. This is slightly suggestive to a young audience to want to do the same, thus closing the distance between children and the military.
2. The depiction of pissed off and mourning surviving US victims emphasizes the callousness of the terrorist attack. The attachment of Islam with the attack serves to demonize Islam in general unfortunately and never for the entire duration of this superficial movie it is asked once where the terrorists obtained their equipment or who or what trained them. Thus the public is further alienated from, and antagonized towards, Islam.
3. In one of the closing scenes we witness a young Muslim terrorist wannabe repeating the words his dying father whispered to him before succumbing: “Don’t fear them, my child. We are going to kill them all.” Of course, this helps to drive the wedge between the West and the (middle) East further and exacerbates the flawed and superficial perception Americans have of Arabs as all being potential terrorists. Regarding the instillment of fear for and aggression towards Islam the movie could hardly have ended any better.

My other analyses (oldest first, newest last):

Children of Men (2006)
300 (2006)
28 Weeks Later (2007)
Soylent Green (1973)
Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
The Kingdom (2007)
The Invasion (2007)
Shoot em Up (2007)
John Rambo (2008 )
I, Robot (2004)
Cloverfield (2008 )
Conspiracy Theory (1997)
Starship Troopers 3 – Marauder (2008 )
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008 )
Code 46 (2003)
Equilibrium (2003)
Gattaca (1997)
Minority Report (2002)
V for Vendetta (2005)
Things to Come (1936)
Swordfish (2001)
Independence Day (1996)
Death Race (2008 )
Bee Movie (2007)
The Happening (2008 )
Cyborg Girl – Boku no kanojo wa saib�gu (2008 )
Transformers (2007)
Survivors (2008 ) – BBC TV Series – Part 1of6
Survivors (2008 ) – BBC TV Series – Part 2of6
Survivors (2008 ) – BBC TV Series – Part 3of6
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008 )
I Am Legend (2007)
Robocop (1987) – Promoting the Militarization of Police
Dark Knight (2008) – Excusing the Rude & Stoic Strongman Crime Fighter