Topless protests, Rumsfeld on show at Venice Film Festival

Bare breasts and weighty political issues were on show at the Venice Film Festival Wednesday, as documentaries were screened on former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Femen, a Ukrainian-born topless feminist movement.

The Unknown Known is the latest effort by Errol Morris, a US director who won a 2003 Oscar for The Fog of War, a documentary on Robert McNamara, another former Pentagon chief who, serving 1961-1968, played a key role in the Vietnam war.

The title of the 2013 movie was suggested by a famous Rumsfeld quote on the disputed presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, in which the veteran Republican politician distinguished between “known knowns,” ”known unknowns” and “unknown unknowns.” 

Morris said he found his subject — an architect of the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, who served under presidents George W Bush, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon — as someone who has ended up believing his own spin and deceit.

“Is he acting? Does he believe in what he is saying? It is the central mystery of this movie,” Morris said. The director quoted his own wife, who compared the “clueless” politician to the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, who “vanishes and all is left is just a smile.”  Rather than confronting his subject, Morris let Rumsfeld tell his story, while highlighting some inconsistencies. For example, his claim to have never linked former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussain to al-Qaeda is refuted by archive footage.

“I look at it at a devastating, a frightening portrait,” said Morris, rejecting suggestions his 105-minute feature, based on 33 hours of interviews and thousands of memos Rumsfeld left behind, gives the 81-year-old an easy ride.

The veteran Republican does not like the finished product, he stressed. The Unknown Known is competing for top Golden Lion award, one of the two documentaries included in the 20-strong line up for the main competition.

Ukraine is not a Brothel was the other highlight Wednesday. A first feature film by Australia’s Kitty Green, it was presented in the out-of-competition section — and accompanied by one of Femen’s trademark stunts.

Six activists bared their breasts at a promotional photo event for the film, revealing painted slogans on their chests such as “Ukraine is Not a Brothel,” ”Naked War” and “Women are still here.”  Green followed Femen activists around Kiev, as well as Belarus and Turkey, posing questions about their motivations, their sometimes murky funding and their struggle with Viktor, a bossy figure who controlled the group until it moved to Paris last year.

The director, who kept her clothes on at the photo-call, said hers was “a strong film about women rising up against patriarchal forces. They are controversial, yes, but it raises awareness: you are all here because you know who Femen are, and the reason is because they took their shirts off.”  Femen has expanded its fight against sexism, religious oppression and dictatorship at an international level. It has targeted, among others, former pope Benedict XVI, Tunisia’s post Arab Spring rulers, as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Last month, Tunisian activist Amina Sboui quit the group accusing it of being “Islamophobic” and financed by “shady money.” The 19-year-old spent over two months in prison for tagging the wall of a cemetery with the word “Femen.” 

Inna Shevchenko, one of the Femen leaders who travelled to Venice, confirmed the falling out, but said Sboui remained “a symbol” for “the liberation of women in the Islamic world.”  She said her organization could not help attacking Islam, as well as Christian and Jewish faiths, “because we are feminist (and) feminism and religion cannot coexist together.”  Wednesday also saw the screening of L’Intrepido by Gianni Amelio, about a man who juggles disparate jobs as a temp worker.

Amelio is the last Italian to have won the Golden Lion, with the 1998 immigrants’ tale Cosi Ridevano.

The festival’s political theme was due to continue Thursday, with the premiere of Walesa: Man of Hope, by veteran director Andrzej Wajda, a biopic on Polish anti-communist leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa.