is releasing the first feature film about the raid that killed Osama
bin Laden two days before the US presidential election. "SEAL Team
Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden" is distributed by Harvey Weinstein,
the respected movie mogul who hosted the president at a
celebrity-studded fundraising event in New England last month.
In a press release, the National Geographic Channel said it would
premiere "SEAL Team Six" on November 4 after its president Howard
Owens and Weinstein discussed "the insight the film is sure to evoke
in all Americans."
The film — directed by John Stockwell and produced for theatrical
release by Nicholas Chartier, who produced the Oscar-winning war film
"The Hurt Locker" — will then go onto Netflix movie screening website.
In a trailer posted online Friday, characters are heard saying "We're
going to be the team that takes out Osama" and "the president of the
United States is going to be staking his presidency on this call."
Obama personally gave the green light for US Navy SEAL commandos to
target Bin. Laden's hideout in Pakistan on May 2, 2011 in a daring
night-time raid that killed the Al Qaeda leader responsible for the
9/11 attacks.
"This portrayal of the events that took place that night is moving, to
say the very least," said Weinstein in the National Geographic Channel
press release. "I anticipate audiences will be as captivated as I was
from the beginning to the end," he added.
"And I'm extremely proud as an American citizen to play a role in
making sure this stunning portrayal over very recent American history
is available in as many homes as possible."
Opinion polls had put Obama, gunning for a second White House term,
ahead of Mitt Romney prior to a televised debate
Wednesday in which Romney came out the victor in the eyes of most
political analysts.
Weinstein, executive producer of films as diverse as "The English
Patient," "The Artist" and the most recent "Rambo" movie in a
filmmaking career dating back to the 1970s, is a well-known supporter
of the Democratic party.
His exclusive Obama fundraiser in August at his seaside compound in
Westport, Connecticut was attended by about 50 people, the Hollywood
Reporter trade journal reported. Tickets cost $38,5000 each.