The Freedom Party of Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders has reacted furiously to the trailer of an online movie spoofing a murder attempt on Mr Wilders.
The trailer is available on the website of publicly-funded radio station FunX, which targets a young urban audience. Freedom Party MP Martin Bosma has said his party will ask Media Minister Ronald Plasterk whether "an over-subsidised multi-culti radio station" should be receiving government money if it is putting out "suggestive" movies. A government spokesperson explained to reporters that there is no preventive censorship in the Netherlands. Only after a broadcaster commits an offence can legal action be taken, according to the spokesperson.
The Freedom Party points out that Mr Wilders is living under constant heavy police protection following a number of credible death threats. "It is disgusting to turn that into entertainment."
- The trailer opens with the fake caution that "This film is based on fiction and is not suitable for viewers." The voice-over is in Italian, a language which is not generally spoken in the Netherlands, hence the Dutch subtitles.
Radio FunX director Willem Stegeman said that the full satirical video will be released next week. "It is an unmistakeable parody. I cannot give away the plot, but I can reveal that it will be a total anti-climax. We are exploring how far we can go, and some may find it in bad taste. But the same can be said of statements by some people in the political spectrum. We are putting an ironic slant on the whole thing, striking a blow against all the ponderousness surrounding Mr Wilders."
Mr Stegeman emphasised that the film makers are not after demonising the nationalist right-wing anti-Islam MP. "But the film's author is definitely drawing a connection with Pim Fortuyn," the popular outcast politician who was assassinated in 2002 following a plea for stricter immigration rules.
© Radio Netherlands Worldwide
Geert Wilders
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