The movie- ‘Death on the Nile’ was released yesterday. It is a thriller mystery movie directed by Kenneth Branagh. The film is attracting the public eye quite heavily, with sources stating that the Agatha Christie crime novel adaptation has been banned in Kuwait and Lebanon upon release. However, the reason is not its story, but over the model turned lead actress Gal Gadot, due to the actress’s ties with the Israeli Defense Force.
Previously, Gadot has served in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) for two years, which was a mandatory term in the country. She has publicly displayed her support for the IDF and has even slammed Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, during the Gaza war of 2014. Given the situation where Kuwait, on one side, extends its support both financially and vocally to Palestine, which has waged war to free itself from Israel.
Palestine looks forward to being an independent country. On the other hand, since 2006, Lebanon and Israel have been in a state of silent tensions as they have maintained a ceasefire for nearly sixteen years now. Moreover, due to the actor’s public support, she has been subjected to criticism from multiple Arabian countries.
This is not the first time that a movie starring Gal Gadot has been banned in any Arabian nation. Previously, one of her movies- ‘Wonder Woman’ also got banned in the country of Lebanon. Back in 2017, just two hours before the movie was screened in the country, a protest was waged that demanded to boycott the supporters of Israel. In response to the same, the government of Lebanon had to give in and remove the movie from the theatres. Following this, Qatar also banned the film from their country.
The movie ‘Death on the Nile‘ is an adaptation of the book by the same name, authored by Agatha Christie in 1937. The screenplay of the same is by Michael Green. The movie stars Gal Gadot, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Bateman, Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Ali Fazal, Dawn French, Armie Hammer, Rose Leslie, Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Saunders, and Letitia Wright.
This movie is a sequel to the 2017 movie- ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ which was again an adaptation of the book with the same name, authored by Agatha Christie.
Furthermore, Arabian countries have a history of banning movies in their country. Last year, in December, the film- ‘West Side Reboot’ was forbidden in six nations that included the countries of United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. This happened because a transgender character was present in the movie, which was played by a non-binary actor. In the same year, another Disney movie- ‘Eternals’ was banned in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar.
This happened, reportedly, due to the presence of a gay character and his husband in the film. In Saudi Arabia, it is a convictable offense to commit to the sexual acts with the same sex. The prescribed punishment is the death penalty. Hence, it makes it quite natural for countries to ban movies that promote something against their ideology.
Edited By- Subbuthai Padma
Published By- Bharat Anand
