Bring home US troops from Iraq - Theron
Charlize Theron is the latest Hollywood star to call for US troops to leave Iraq.
The Oscar-winning actress spoke at the Venice Film Festival, where her latest movie is in competition.
In The Valley of Elah is based on the true story of a soldier who goes missing on his first weekend back after serving in Iraq and is reported AWOL.
Theron plays Emily Sanders, the detective leading the investigation into his disappearance.
Fellow actress Scarlett Johansson is planning a morale-boosting visit to troops stationed in Iraq.
Asked if she would do the same, Theron replied: “I think it’s great that she’s doing that, but I’d like to see them come home – be looked after, be nurtured.
“Nothing would give me more joy than to see them back in America.
“They are doing a very, very important job and it’s a dangerous one. Hopefully they can come back and be looked after, that’s the least we can do for them.”
She also urged the US public to open their eyes to what is happening in Iraq and other conflicts around the world.
“In a way it’s really strange now living in America. I realise my generation has kind of slacked a little bit ... I don’t know how people get through their lives not knowing. I can’t imagine going through my life like that,” said the 32-year-old.
In The Valley of Elah is written and directed by Paul Haggis, whose last film was the Oscar-winning Crash.
Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Sarandon play the missing soldier’s parents, who come to realise their son may have been the victim of foul play and find themselves in a fight with the military to discover the truth.
The film’s title is a Biblical reference to the place in Israel where David battled Goliath.
It is the second Iraq drama at this year’s festival – the first, Brian De Palma’s Redacted, premiered yesterday.
Haggis said: “I laugh when I hear these statements that Hollywood is jumping on the bandwagon because the American public is turning against the war.
“We started work on the film in 2003, when the President had an 80% approval ratings, everyone even in the neighbourhood where I live was driving around with flags on their cars, and the President was saying it was unpatriotic to even question this war.
“This film and others like it were very difficult to finance and at the time were very risky. Maybe they still are, we will have to see what the public thinks.”
He went on: “Someone asked me earlier why these films are being made now and not during the Vietnam War. The basic difference is that during the Vietnam War we had journalists doing their jobs, reporting on things we didn’t want to hear. We were reading in newspapers and seeing on TV all the unpleasant truths.
“Now we don’t have that. When that doesn’t happen, it’s the responsibility of artists to ask these difficult questions and make the public more aware.”
Haggis said he had screened In The Valley of Elah to a group of war veterans who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and all had a positive reaction.
“Talk to an veteran, they will say ’you’re not getting the truth’. They want the truth out there. These men and women are very brave and we are doing them a great disservice,” he said.
