George Clooney and Osama bin Laden’s driver

So George Clooney has obtained the rights to make a movie about Osama bin Laden’s driver, Salim Hamdan, said the blog Power Line, who was recently sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for aiding the terrorist leader. Great. It’s not surprising that the film will supposedly offer a “sympathetic portrayal” of Hamdan and his military lawyer, Lieutenant Commander Charles Swift—what a “relief that Hollywood has finally found an American officer connected to the war whom it can lionize.”

Of course the “right-wing media” are going to spin this as “a pro-bin Laden movie,” said Tom Ambrose in Empire Online, “no matter what the truth is.” But Clooney has “shown in the past that he’s prepared to stick to his political guns,” and this time around “should be no different.”

“Can’t we let the headline cool, and its effects settle in,” said the blog Jossip, “before ripping it into a feature?” Salim Hamdan was sentenced less than a week ago. On top of that, he may already be released from prison by the time Clooney’s movie comes out. Who’s going to care about this story then?

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Most people already ignore “politically infused films,” said Alex Billington in FirstShowing.net, and the “world is over-saturated with Iraq War dramas.” But hopefully Clooney can work his magic and turn this into a film that “people will actually care about.”

If anyone can do it, said Daniel Barna in the blog Jo Blo, Clooney can. “With the success of Syriana and Michael Clayton,” he proved that “he can pull off topical political and legal thrillers, and this project seems like a happy medium between the two.”