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Death of a Princess
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Death of a Princess
Death of a Princess (Arabic: موت أميرة) is a British 1980 drama-documentary produced by ATV in cooperation with WGBH in the United States. The drama is based on the true story of Princess Mishaal, a young Saudi Arabian princess, who was executed, by shooting, along with her lover who was beheaded for adultery upon her reported confession. Its depiction of the customs of Saudi Arabia led some Middle Eastern governments to oppose its broadcast under threat of damaging trade relations. Additionally, a Harvard University research paper criticized the largely fictionalized and dramatized portrayal of the events.
The film was based on numerous interviews by journalist Antony Thomas, who, upon first hearing the story, grew passionately curious about its veracity, soon drawing upon contacts in the Arab world for their insights and opinions. Because of the candid and sometimes critical nature of the interviews, Thomas and ATV executives decided not to make the film as a straight documentary but instead to dramatise it with actors.
Thomas was played by Paul Freeman under the name "Christopher Ryder". The identities of the interviewees were obscured, and the actors chosen to replace them were based only loosely on their subjects. The character of Elsa Gruber, played by Judy Parfitt, was based on Rosemarie Buschow, a German woman who had worked for the Saudi royal family as a nanny.
There was only one exception, an Arab family who played themselves. The fictitious nation in which the drama was set was called "Arabia", which some viewers took to mean Saudi Arabia. The name of the princess was never said.
Death of a Princess depicts Thomas' focus on "the Princess", as her story became his vehicle through which important facets of Islamic culture in Saudi Arabia were revealed, including traditions and customs as well as gender roles and sexuality. Thomas later explained that he had only reconstructed scenes where he was confident that they did happen, although he included film of interviewees telling him information which he did not believe.[citation needed] The airport scene where the princess was caught, was filmed in Jeddah Airport.
A critically acclaimed film shown on ITV in the United Kingdom on 9 April 1980, it provoked an angry response from the Saudi government. While resisting pressure not to show the film, ATV agreed to include an introductory comment that said:
The programme you are about to see is a dramatized reconstruction of certain events which took place in the Arab world between 1976 and 1978. We have been asked to point out that equality for all before the law is regarded as paramount in the Moslem world.
The British ambassador to Riyadh, James Craig, was asked to leave the country, while restrictions were placed on the issuing of visas to British businessmen. Saudi Arabia, along with Lebanon, banned British Airways' Concorde from its airspace, making its flights between London and Singapore unprofitable. While the Saudi response had initially driven a UK press reaction against the attempted censorship, when export orders began to be cancelled, the press began to question whether it had been right to show the film. British Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington found the film "deeply offensive", he "wished it had never been shown", but "to ban a film because we do not like it or even because it hurts our friends" was not an option for the country's government.
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Death of a Princess
Death of a Princess (Arabic: موت أميرة) is a British 1980 drama-documentary produced by ATV in cooperation with WGBH in the United States. The drama is based on the true story of Princess Mishaal, a young Saudi Arabian princess, who was executed, by shooting, along with her lover who was beheaded for adultery upon her reported confession. Its depiction of the customs of Saudi Arabia led some Middle Eastern governments to oppose its broadcast under threat of damaging trade relations. Additionally, a Harvard University research paper criticized the largely fictionalized and dramatized portrayal of the events.
The film was based on numerous interviews by journalist Antony Thomas, who, upon first hearing the story, grew passionately curious about its veracity, soon drawing upon contacts in the Arab world for their insights and opinions. Because of the candid and sometimes critical nature of the interviews, Thomas and ATV executives decided not to make the film as a straight documentary but instead to dramatise it with actors.
Thomas was played by Paul Freeman under the name "Christopher Ryder". The identities of the interviewees were obscured, and the actors chosen to replace them were based only loosely on their subjects. The character of Elsa Gruber, played by Judy Parfitt, was based on Rosemarie Buschow, a German woman who had worked for the Saudi royal family as a nanny.
There was only one exception, an Arab family who played themselves. The fictitious nation in which the drama was set was called "Arabia", which some viewers took to mean Saudi Arabia. The name of the princess was never said.
Death of a Princess depicts Thomas' focus on "the Princess", as her story became his vehicle through which important facets of Islamic culture in Saudi Arabia were revealed, including traditions and customs as well as gender roles and sexuality. Thomas later explained that he had only reconstructed scenes where he was confident that they did happen, although he included film of interviewees telling him information which he did not believe.[citation needed] The airport scene where the princess was caught, was filmed in Jeddah Airport.
A critically acclaimed film shown on ITV in the United Kingdom on 9 April 1980, it provoked an angry response from the Saudi government. While resisting pressure not to show the film, ATV agreed to include an introductory comment that said:
The programme you are about to see is a dramatized reconstruction of certain events which took place in the Arab world between 1976 and 1978. We have been asked to point out that equality for all before the law is regarded as paramount in the Moslem world.
The British ambassador to Riyadh, James Craig, was asked to leave the country, while restrictions were placed on the issuing of visas to British businessmen. Saudi Arabia, along with Lebanon, banned British Airways' Concorde from its airspace, making its flights between London and Singapore unprofitable. While the Saudi response had initially driven a UK press reaction against the attempted censorship, when export orders began to be cancelled, the press began to question whether it had been right to show the film. British Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington found the film "deeply offensive", he "wished it had never been shown", but "to ban a film because we do not like it or even because it hurts our friends" was not an option for the country's government.