First what the film depicts needs close look at and the motive behind its production and timing. The 17 minutes film begins with the first opprobrious Danish cartoon of the prophet depicting him wearing a turban and live bomb in it. Then the Quran opens on sura 58 and verse 60 and soon the scene moves to the planes which struck the World Trade Centre in New York on 9/11. The obvious propaganda point is that the holy book inspired the attack and hence the cause of loss of life and property.
Thereafter there are sections of the film, each beginning with quotations of sura 4 and verse 56, sura 47 verse 4, sura 4 verse 89 and sura 8 verse 39. The rest of each section shows either the bombing of train in Britain or Madrid or beheading or shooting of prisoners. There are Muslim clerics drawing swords in threatening posture of attacking and killing. Then there is the focus on the Iranian President Ahmedenijad. A Muslim girl of three and half is shown calling Jews pigs and apes. This is attributed to the teaching of the holy book.
Slowly and inevitably the camera moves to Netherlands. A bus is moving towards a city with mosque minarets reaching the skies. Of course more immigrants are arriving from the Islamic world to Netherlands. The increasing population of Muslims in their host country is up fronted with figures year wise. Then there are captions of newspapers and television scenes. There is the severed head of a suicide bomber. The heading blares out the obvious questions: is this what you are waiting for to happen in Netherlands. Then what would happen if the Muslim population increases: will the gays and lesbians be free. There are snippets on Theo van Gogh and his murderer and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
As the last section peters out there is the turning of the pages of the Quran. The sound of tearing of pages is heard with the caption that Wilders is doing what the Muslims themselves must do with the “ spiteful verses” of their holy book.
Fitna draws to a close with the Danish cartoon of the prophet reappearing with the camera zooming in on the ignited fuse in the turban protruded with the live bomb. Then the obvious explosion.
Of course, the film is decidedly cheap propaganda. Geert Wilders is maliciously insulting not only the holy book but instigating his audience to throw out the Muslims from Netherlands.
No body should object to Wilders’ right to speak or show a film. Not so much his freedom enshrined in the values of the Western civilization and culture should matter. What should matter of all is this deliberate slander of the faith and the messenger of the faith of a religion. No doubt the people have won their freedom of expression in the West. Three cheers for that! But that freedom must be matched by a modest sense of responsibility at least.
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende admits that the obvious aim of the film is to offend the Muslims but instead of reprimanding Wilders he wants the Muslim to show responsibility “But feeling offended must never be used as an excuse for aggression and threats." Wilders using the cartoon of the prophet is tantamount to rubbing salt into the wounds of the injured sensibility of the Muslims and others who are fair minded enough to want to avoid this kind of malignant provocation.
There is hardly any scene in the film that is not summed up above. Each scene is etched in the memory of the people. Cashing on this Wilders is trying not to so much exert his right to expression but to deliberately stop the wounds from healing. In one scene the victim of the London bombing is writhing his leg with the ebbing energy of his last moment. Such a scene is not allowed to match up with the increasing settlement on the West Bank of Jordan River where the Israeli soldiers aim at the skull of small children in the arms of their parents and then blow up their brains.
The three and half year old girl is pointedly made to repeat that the Jews are pigs and apes and the Muslims with banners praising Hitler for what he did to the Jews. A more responsible and balanced way of looking at the demographic change should have let the camera focus on the enlargement of the settlements on Palestinian lands by the Zionists and raising of walls. That in fact has all the hallmarks of genocide. Why turn blind eye to the ongoing and in slow motion genocide in Gaza strip and the West Bank and only focus camera on indefensible terrorist attacks by some Muslims?
There are no norms of media presentation of reality here. How could there be when Wilders quotes verse and chapter from the Quran and directly and immediately relates it to the gory scenes of murder and mayhem. Far from being understood, the verses are quoted out of context and there is lack of knowledge of the real and intended implication. What some misguided from among the Muslim have done is shown to be hinged on to the verses which all Muslims respect and read in their real context. Again and again the most trifling choice of jihad mired with violence of the times is graphically presented. The much nobler choice of jihad of patience, forbearance, steadfastness in the face of hostility and cruelty (like what you have in the occupied lands in Palestine and even in Iraq and Afghanistan) is sorely missing. There is the Palestinian woman wounded along with her son during Israeli and Hezbollah war in Southern Lebanon. The son is asking his mother not to die as she is drawing her last breaths. What about the self restraint of the Iraqi father mutely weeping over the dead body of his small child killed by an American bomber? How many such fathers and mothers have figured in the cinematic vision of Wilders?
At times it looks ironic as to who is more for the freedom of expression. The Dutch Muslim Broadcasting Association (NMO) had offered to air Fitna on March 22. They expected that Wilders would join them in a debate afterwards. He showed no courtesy!
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