Dutch Filmmaker assassinated; Theo van Gogh

In foreign reviews of his work it was always deemed necessary to mention that he was a distant relative of Vincent van Gogh. Natural born rebel as he was Theo always pissed on that legacy, being an artist in his own right.

Theo van Gogh was rejected by the film academy in the Netherlands with the advice to seek psychiatrical help, but went on to make a dozen or so feature length films that were original, daring, provocative and often controversial. Nonetheless, he was well-regarded by film critics and won several prizes. I doubt, however, that many of his films have made it accros the Atlantic. None of his films are available through my local video store anyway and most of his works in the IMBD database have no plot outline or comments.

Theo never shirked from creating mayhem with his outspoken views on everything under heaven, and most of all, like a Dutch Michael Moore, he was a champion of free speech. It was for this reason that he was gunned down and stabbed to death in the street while cycling to his job. this shows how blue-eyed the Dutch still are, that a terrorist can gun down someone in the street in broad daylight and cut his throat at ease at 100 yards from a police station and still witnesses would refrain from describing the killer as an Arab, because that would be discriminatory towards people of colour.

One of Theo's most recent works was a short film Submission which is critical of the way Islam views women. (SPOILER) The films features a woman relating to Allah how she was forced into a marriage with an abusive husband, raped by an uncle and subsequently condemned to 100 lashes for adultery. While the story is told, we can see through the transparant chador she is wearing the relevant koran texts painted on her body as well as the bloody scars from the whip.

The film created the expected upheaval in muslim circles, as the intent was to shock people into debate, but rather it fuelled death threats as many muslims regard any criticism of Islam as heresy (like certain Christian extremists won't allow any criticism of the Bible) and the moderate muslims were as always too afraid or too accessory to speak out. The script of the film was written by a Dutch MP of Somali origin, who has been subject of death threats herself for a long time on account of her criticism of Islam.

Free artistic expression has lost a local hero, it has been a sad Tuesday indeed.

Links:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0324660
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_van_Gogh_%28film_director%29