Red Scorpion

Red Scorpion

Infobox Film
name = Red Scorpion


image_size =
caption = Theatrical release poster
director = Joseph Zito
producer = Jack Abramoff
writer = Jack Abramoff
Robert Abramoff
Arne Olsen
narrator =
starring = Dolph Lundgren
M. Emmet Walsh
Al White
T.P. McKenna
Carmen Argenziano
music = Jay Chattaway
cinematography = João Fernandes
editing = Daniel Loewenthal
distributor = Shapiro-Glickenhaus
released = January 5, 1989
runtime = 105 min
country = South Africa
United States
Namibia
language = English
budget = $16 million
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by = Red Scorpion 2
website = http://www.gmrmedia.com/dolph/films/redscorpion.html
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0098180

"Red Scorpion" is a 1989 film starring Dolph Lundgren.

The film is noted for its association with future lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who wrote the story and produced the film together with his brother Robert Abramoff.

Plot

The plot centers on Lundgren's character, a Soviet agent called Nikolai who is sent to an African country where Soviet and Cuban forces are helping the government fight an anti-communist rebel movement. Nikolai is ordered to assassinate the movement's leader but eventually turns against his government. He is abandoned in the desert and found by native people. He soon learns about them and their culture and later leads an attack after a massacre at the rebel stronghold.

The film has a strongly anti-Communist and anti-Soviet message, and goes to great lengths to depict the sadism and violence of the protagonist, as well of as his superiors, prior to his conversion, including a scene in which chemical weapons are used on civilians. Nikolai is also portrayed as a mindless automaton, who then learns to smile and laugh later in the film.

The movie was directed by Joseph Zito and represents his first auteurial effort half a decade after the release of the Chuck Norris vehicles Missing in Action and the infamous Invasion U.S.A.. To the contrary of his previous movies, which became camp classics due to over-the-top situations and involontary humour this piece seems to have not aged well, perhaps due to his tight association to contemporary shifting politics.

Parallel to the real world

The fictional country is clearly modeled on Angola, and the conflict on the Angolan Civil War, in which the Marxist Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba, fought a long civil war against UNITA, which was backed by South Africa's white apartheid regime and on an on-off basis by the United States as well. The character of the anti-communist rebel leader appears loosely based on UNITA founder Jonas Savimbi.

Production and controversy

After being denied the right from filming in Swaziland and a search for other locations, the film was made in South West Africa. Warner Bros., who had a negative pickup deal to release the picture, pulled out for the breach of their contract with the production. Artists and Athletes Against Apartheid then condemned the production for breaking the international boycott against South Africa. The film was allegedly financed by the South African government as part of its propaganda efforts to undermine international sympathy for the African National Congress (see International Freedom Foundation).

Abramoff later claimed that he did not intend the film to contain so much violence and profanity, blaming the director. He established a short-lived "Committee for Traditional Jewish Values in Entertainment" to release films more in line with his values, but later abandoned the project, feeling it would be unfeasible.

A sequel, Red Scorpion 2, appeared in 1994, although the story is largely unrelated to the first installment.

References

* [http://www.gmrmedia.com/dolph/dolph-in/prevue.html 1988 "Prevue" article by James Steranko on the making of the film]
* [http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=262174&area=/insight/insight__national/ "Mail & Guardian" article on involvement of the South African Defence Force]
*imdb title|id=0098180|title=Red Scorpion


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