Schadenfreude for Mighty Heart

Michael Winterbottom’s shoot of A Mighty heart – The Daniel Pearl story starring Angelina Jolie got shut down in Karachi for not having the right permits. Apparently, the crew members,

“ … ran into trouble in July while filming without permission near Karachi's Village restaurant, where Pearl had planned to meet a contact shortly before his abduction. Officials halted the filming and police and federal agents arrested three Pakistani men - who were wearing police uniforms and carrying guns - for impersonating policemen."

Now the shoot is being held in Pune in India, where the locals have been going ape shit over Ms Jolie’s appearance.

Call me a cynic, but one has to think that westerners have learned nothing about Karachi. Would Michael Winterbottom dare shoot a major production without getting the right permits beforehand in any other city? Seems like he did exactly what Daniel Pearl did, walk into a dangerous and volatile situation expecting everything to be fine and dandy. Mr. Winterbottom is a master film maker with a liberal tendencies, after all he made Road to Guantanamo and given the opportunity he would have made a visually stunning film shot in Karachi.

However, as an aspiring film maker and a native son I would like Karachi to be exposed by us rather then be patronized by Hollywood. So all I can say is Schadenfreude \SHOD-n-froy-duh\ malicious satisfaction obtained from the misfortunes of others.