The Siege

The Siege
The movie poster for The Siege.
Directed by	Edward Zwick
Produced by	Lynda Obst Edward Zwick
Written by	Lawrence Wright Menno Meyjes Edward Zwick
Starring	Denzel Washington Annette Bening Tony Shalhoub David Proval and Bruce Willis
Music by	Graeme Revell
Cinematography	Roger Deakins
Editing by	Steven Rosenblum
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	November 6, 1998
Running time	116 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$70 million

The Siege is a 1998 action-thriller-drama film about a fictional situation in which terrorist cells have made several attacks on New York City. It was directed by Edward Zwick and stars Denzel Washington, Annette Bening, Tony Shalhoub, and Bruce Willis.

Plot summary

The film opens with news footage that, although actually originating from the bombing of the Khobar Towers, was made to appear for the purposes of the film as though from a terrorist incident during the Clinton administration, one which never actually occured. The Khobar Towers were being used to house American military personnel during Operation Southern Watch. The U.S. blames a group led by a certain "Sheik Achmed bin Talal," who is subsequently seized and surgically extracted by a small fireteam of unspecified U.S. special-operations personnel. At some level an arguably illegal decision is made such that the occurrence of the raid is never acknowledged, bin Talal is denied even to be in U.S. custody, and he is not turned over to the civil authorities.

FBI Special Agent Anthony Hubbard (Denzel Washington) and his Lebanese-American partner Frank Haddad (Tony Shalhoub), arrive at the scene of a terrorist crisis in New York City, where a fully loaded bus has been found to contain an apparent explosive device. The "bomb" turns out merely to be a huge paint bomb, and it is discovered that the terrorists managed to escape before emergency response units arrived on the scene. The FBI team receives a phone call in which a mysterious computer-generated voice states that the false attack was a warning, scheduled to be followed by real bombings unless authorities comply with a single demand. They also receive a mysterious FAX message stating "release him," which is taken to refer to Sheikh Achmed bin Talal. Hubbard makes various inquiries, but he is falsely told that the U.S. is not in fact holding bin Talal. Though Hubbard suspects that a man named William Deveraux may be lying to him about the matter, he has no proof.

The next incident also involves a bus, but this time it is held by assailants wearing explosive suicide vests and armed with assault rifles. Hubbard convinces the terrorists to release all the children and elderly people on the bus, but despite further attempts to negotiate, the terrorists immediately explode their devices once they see that news cameras have arrived, which obliterates the bus and kills everyone still on board. A CIA officer using the name "Elise Kraft" (Annette Bening) appears. Though involved with her own agency's investigation of the bombing, she is unable or unwilling to give Hubbard any details other than to reveal that other terrorist cells still remain operational in Brooklyn, and that U.S> forces have in fact abducted and detained bin Talal. When the FBI captures a man named Samir Nazhde, he admits to signing the visa application of one of the suicide bombers, in the course of signing many applications for student visas in his job as a lecturer. However, "Kraft" insists that Samir is not a terrorist, and that his continued freedom is vital to the investigation.

However, even without the ability to place more pressure on Samir, the FBI still manages to locate another cell. An FBI special weapons and tactics unit manages to use the pretext of a pizza delivery to introduce a flashbang into the safe house, and all terrorists there are killed despite their ferocious attempt to resist. A second sleeper cell then becomes activated and bombs a theater, causing mass casualties. In a third incident, a lone man takes a school hostage, before Hubbard impulsively takes it upon himself to storm the classroom, where he succeed in killing the subject without any of the hostages being harmed. In response to this, yet another sleeper cell is activated, and it succeeds in carrying out a car bomb suicide attack on the offices of the FBI Counterterrorism Division at One Federal Plaza.

The Federal Government seeks options. Major General William Devereaux (Willis) insists that the Army is not the right "tool" for this job, being a "broadsword, not a scalpel." Hubbard recommends continued use of the FBI to seek out and neutralize the suspects. During this meeting, the true name of the CIA officer "Elise Kraft" is revealed to be Sharon Bridger. In spite of objections, the President declares martial law, and the Army's 101st Airborne Division, under Major General Devereaux, occupies and seals off Brooklyn in an effort to find the remaining terrorist cells. Subsequently, all young males of Arab descent, including Haddad's son Yusuf, are rounded up and detained in a makeshift prison camp in Yankee Stadium. Haddad quits the FBI. New Yorkers stage violent demonstrations against the army and the singling out of the Arabs, and the Army fights to maintain control. There are reports of Army killings.

Hubbard and Kraft continue their investigation and capture a suspect, Tariq Husseini. Bridger ask for more time so she can continue her psychological approach to eliciting information from the defiant and contemptuous Husseini. However, Devereaux insists that there is not enough time for that approach. Refusing to listen to Hubbard's furious objections, Devereaux has Bridger And Hubbard thrown out, and then tortures and kills Husseini in the course of the interrogation. After this Bridger tells Hubbard that Husseini knew nothing of value -- obviously because of the basic principles of compartmentalized information -- and, sickened, she finally tells Hubbard what she knows. It is revealed that she herself provided training and support to certain militants opposed to Saddam Hussein's regime, giving them advanced training so that they would be able to sow turmoil there by using guerilla and terrorist tactics. After the funding and support was suddenly cut due to "a policy shift" by the American government, Bridger took pity on the few of them who had not yet been slaughtered by pro-Hussein forces, arranging for them to be able to escape to the United States and ultimately leading to the present situation. She and Hubbard compel Samir to arrange a meeting with the final terrorist cell. Hubbard convinces Haddad that he needs his help, and Haddad returns to the FBI.

A peaceful march involving all ethnic groups in New York demonstrates against the occupation of Brooklyn. As the march is getting under way Hubbard and Haddad arrive at the meeting place, but Bridger and Samir have already left. Samir reveals to Bridger that he himself constitutes the final cell -- while in another sense, he says, "there will never be a last cell." He straps a bomb to his body which he intends to detonate amongst the marchers. Hubbard and Haddad arrive in time to stop him leaving, but Samir shoots Bridger in the stomach as she struggles to stop him. Hubbard kills Samir, but despite their best efforts, he and Haddad can only watch as Bridger bleeds to death.

Hubbard, accompanied by other FBI agents, places Lt. Gen. Devereaux under arrest for the torture and murder of Tariq Husseini. Deveraux insists that under the War Powers Resolution,the authority vested in him by the President now supercedes that of the court which issued the arrest warrant, and he declares himself to be the law. He then commands his soldiers to aim their guns at the FBI agents resulting in a Mexican standoff. Hubbard reminds Devereaux that the civil liberties and human rights which he took from Husseini are what all his predecessors have fought and died for. Devereaux finally submits to arrest. Martial law ends, and the detainees are freed, including Haddad's son.

Cast

• Denzel Washington as FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Anthony "Hub" Hubbard
• Annette Bening as CIA officer Elise Kraft / Sharon Bridger
• Bruce Willis as U.S. Army Major General William Devereaux
• Tony Shalhoub as FBI Special Agent Frank Haddad
• Aasif Mandvi as Khalil Saleh
• Sami Bouajila as Samir Nazhde
• Ahmed Ben Larby as Sheik Akhmed bin Talal

Controversy

When the film opened, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee came out against the film. Its spokesman Hussein Ibish said “The Siege is extremely offensive. It's beyond offensive. We're used to offensive, that's become a daily thing. This is actually dangerous." He thought it was “Insidious and incendiary” because it “reinforces stereotypes that lead to hate crimes.” Ibish acknowledged that Arab terrorists did, in fact, bomb the World Trade Center in 1993, but said that Arab and Islamic groups are upset by "the very strong equation between Muslim religious practices and terrorism. ...[Thanks to this film] Every time someone goes through the Muslim ablution, the ritual washing of hands everybody does before they pray five times a day, that image is the announcement to the viewer of the presence of violence.” Echoing such criticism the Council on American-Islamic Relations protested that "In this film, the Muslims have total disregard for human life." The groups were “faxing and calling news organizations on a regular basis” to voice their concerns.^[1]

Director Edward Zwick had met with Arab Americans, who suggested that the story be changed to mirror the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, when Arabs were immediately assumed responsible. This idea was rejected. Zwick noted that The Siege's villains also include members of the U.S. government, and dismissed the criticism, saying, “Anytime you talk about issues that touch on religion of any kind, you can anticipate this kind of reaction. Should we only present every group as paragons and monoliths of virtue? The movie inspires to engender this kind of dialogue. I happen to come from the school that thinks that movies should not only make you uncomfortable, they might make you think. …You can anticipate any kind of reaction in these times in which sensitivity seems very high in the culture. I have a friend who says, if you've not offended somebody, you're a nobody. …How does it feel to be a lightning rod? It gets the blood going. I think it's better than being universally ignored. In a culture where there seems to be so much to talk about, it's good to be talked about."^[1]

"What the movie is most deeply about — it's about our own latent possibilities of repression, stereotyping and prejudice," says Zwick. "To see Americans rounded up in the streets, to see Americans put into stadiums, to see people held without habeas corpus — to have their rights violated in such a way is such a chilling and just terrifying thing to see — that is what one takes away, I believe, from this film." ^[2]

In a September 2007 interview,^[3] screenwriter Lawrence Wright attributed the film's disaster at the box office to Muslim and Arab protests at theaters playing the film, claiming that it was the most rented movie in America after the September 11 attacks.

See also

• Politics in fiction
• Siege

References

External links

• The Siege at the Internet Movie Database
• The Siege at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Siege at Metacritic
• The Siege at Box Office Mojo