FTW : F..k The War



By Darryl Mason

It's been a bit quiet around here for the past few weeks or so because I've been finishing off a movie. It's a documentary/hostage thriller set during the Sydney Student Protests against the Iraq War in early 2003.

The basic plot : The prime minister is giving a speech at Sydney's Town Hall after the start of the War On Iraq. An anti-war protest outside turns violent, and during a scuffle the prime minister is separated from his security. One of the protesters manages to kidnap the prime minister. He lashes him to a chair in the cellar of an empty house and interrogates him over the deceptions and lies that led Australia into the War On Iraq.

The movie is called FTW, or :



'F..k The War' stars Dave Gleeson, lead singer with the legendary Australian rock band The Screaming Jets. Gleeson ripped into the role of hostage taker like a professional, found plenty of laughs where there would have been none without him, and generally pulled the gold from a way too long script and made it shine.

The movie will also include extraordinary documentary footage shot at the massive student protests in Sydney, before the start of the Iraq War, when school kids opened up about their fears of the war to come. They were closer to the truth than anyone in the White House, or Whitehall.

I'll get some longer clips up on YouTube soon. But here's a first taste :



'F..k The War' will be out on DVD and digital download in late October. At least one version of the documentary will go up for free on torrent sharing sites.

But if it sells 500 copies, F..k The War will be one of the few Australian movies of 2010 to turn a profit.

If it sells a few thousand copies, we get started on another movie.

More soon.


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