The Hunting Party

The Fine Line Between Comedy and Tragedy
At first glance, during the music and opening sequences of THE HUNTING PARTY, it is difficult to ascertain if the film about to be seen is a comedy or a docudrama about a genocidal maniac. Once the repartee of dialog sets in we realize that journalists require a certain mindset and vantage that allows them to cover war and other atrocities and once that tenor is adjusted the film makes solid sense.

Based on a true story by Scott Anderson (a journalist) THE HUNTING PARTY (written for the screen by Richard Shepard who also directs) deals with a top notch journalist Simon (Richard Gere) on the skids and his buddy cameraman Duck (Terrence Howard) and youngster journalist Benjamin (Jesse Eisenberg) who meet up after Simon's self imposed exile to follow a lead to 'interview' The Fox (Ljubomir Kerekes), the most wanted war criminal from the Bosnia/Croatian war. Their trail follows life-threatening chases and captures and escapes until they expose what the CIA has been doing to...

Only The Most Ridiculous Parts of the Story Are True
"Only the Most Ridiculous Parts of the Story Are True"

As I read this brief title card at the beginning of the new Richard Shephard ("The Matador") film "The Hunting Party", I suddenly realized something. For months, I have been watching a trailer for a different film. Funny thing is the film I saw was better than the film promoted by the trailer. Let me explain.

Over the course of many months, I saw the trailer for "The Hunting Party" many times. Every time I watched it, the film was painted as a fairly typical war story. Richard Gere plays a reporter covering stories in various war zones, Terrence Howard plays his cameraman. Together, they dodge a lot of bullets and explosions. Jesse Eisenberg ("Noah and the Whale") plays a young newbie along for the ride. Every time I watched the trailer, I couldn't help suppress a yawn. It appeared to be too conventional to have anything new to say.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I saw a television commercial for the...

Urban myths can make interesting movies
All big conflicts and unresolved situations are a fertile ground for conspiracy theories. Usually one or the other urban myth will be planted on top of the most daring theories. Prime example that comes to mind are the 9/11 explanations involving Mossad/Pentagon/CIA plus the fable that x-thousand Jews did not go to work on that day, which many good Muslims actually believe. As I know first hand, i.e. this is not an urban myth now.
One conspiracy theory has it that Karadjic, the Bosnian Serb, who is one of the hottest refugees from international justice, resigned his leadership in a deal with the US/UN which promised him that they would not come after him. The urban myth garnishing this theory, and which forms the basis of this film script, is, that K. actually did get caught and then killed by Bosnian Muslims rather than put up for show like Milosevic. Who knows.
The movie is worth watching, whether one wants to belief the story or not. Gere and Howard are doing a great job...

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