Sometimes art comes too close to imitating life. The movie Made in France was set to be released last weekend, but the plot was suddenly too disturbing. It's being pushed to 2016. It’s about a Muslim journalist who uses his background to permeate a mosque in the Paris suburbs and eventually hooks up with would-be terrorists planning to “sow chaos in the heart of Paris.”
The film already had a bout of controversy when a movie poster was distributed all around the Paris public transportation system that featured an “AK-47 assault rifle superimposed over the Eiffel Tower” with a tagline that read, “The threat comes from inside.” Ironically, this isn’t the first time the movie has been disturbed by real events. Earlier this year the original distributor, SND Distribution, pulled out of the movie following the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks.
What could be seen as a classy move on SND’s part for pulling the movie after the Charlie Hebdo attack, Pretty Pictures stepped in as the new distributor and played up the real-life comparisons of the movie and Hebdo attack. A festival catalogue where the movie premiered in October under the title, “Inside the Cell” read:
The film follows a Muslim journalist (played by Malik Zidi) who goes undercover in an extremist jihadist cell in the Paris suburbs — unique in that the would-be terrorists are converts to Islam, not foreigners who’ve come to wreak havoc on the city.
“Shot a mere few months before the Paris events of January 2015, ‘Inside the Cell’s’ storyline bears close resemblance to what happened in reality. … ‘Inside the Cell’ is a daring investigation thriller that plunges you inside the extremist Muslim groups that grow inside western countries and can strike at any moment.”
Although the release date of the movie has been pulled and the posters featuring the Eiffel Tower and an AK-47 have been taken down, it will be interesting to see what kind of edits may now be made to the movie.
