British director Mike Leigh says "no" to Israel

British director Mike Leigh has canceled a trip to Israel to protest government policies.  Good for you Mike, it shows that you are a true jack-ass.

As reported in the Jerusalem Post, British director Mike Leigh,

"who was scheduled to visit Israel from November 20-27 to teach a master class in Jerusalem as part of the Sam Spiegel Film & Television School’s “Great Masters” program, canceled due to political reasons.

"In a letter announcing his decision, Leigh, the director of such films as Secrets & Lies, Vera Drake and the upcoming Another Year, cited several of Israel’s policies, including the proposed loyalty oath, as the reason for his change of heart."

Members of the film industry have long been players in the political arena.  They've always endorsed policies when it suit them and protested them when it didn't. In America we saw that in the days of the Red scare when a Communist lurked behind the doors at every film studio.  We saw it when Hanoi Jane Fonda gave comfort to the enemy when America was at war with North Vietnam.

Now comes Mike Leigh, protesting the "loyalty oath?" Is he nuts or just a left winger so far to the left that he's off the chart? What is funny here is that the Israeli film industry is to the political left and it's one of their own sticking his pinky in its eye.

In protest, I will refuse to see his next movie if it makes it in distribution in this country.

This whole kerfuffle reminds me of the famous line muttered by Kevin Kline's Otto to John Cleese's Archie Leach, in a Fish Called Wanda, that fits Leigh very well,

"You pompous, stuck-up, snot-nosed, English, giant, twerp, scumbag, f**k-face, d**khead, asshole."

Stay in Britain Mr. Leigh, enjoy the rain.

Well, that's what I have to say.

Stephen M. Flatow