DOHA (Al Jazeera) – A Hollywood film co-produced by an Emirati film company has been condemned as “immoral” and “absurd” for portraying Qatar as a “terrorist state”.
The Misfits, co-produced, filmed, and financed by the UAE-based FilmGate Production in partnership with Paramount Pictures and Highland Film Group, tells the story of savvy thief Richard Pace, played by Pierce Brosnan, who escapes from a high-security U.S. prison and goes on to steal millions from the world’s most secure facilities.
In the film, the director refers to Qatar as “Jazeeristan” and accuses its citizens of supporting “terrorist organizations” while Abu Dhabi’s mercenaries are depicted as heroes, Doha News reported.
It added that the film portrays Qatar-based Egyptian Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi as “the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and the sponsor of global terrorism”.
The report cited Egyptian journalist, Mohamed Nasser, as saying in a video posted online that The Misfits is nothing more than an attempt by the UAE to “destroy Qatar’s reputation”.
A Twitter user, who watched a leaked copy of the movie, describes it as “absurd” and not worthy of feedback.
“Shame on whoever funded this nonsense,” he added.
Palestinian journalist Jamal Rayyan described the film as “immoral”.
In a series of tweets, Qatari scholar Muhammad al-Kubaisi also slammed the film.
“May God never bless the Emirati leadership. They are using Hollywood and producing a movie called The Misfits, which cost them more than $50m dollars to damage Qatar’s reputation and accuse its peaceful society of terrorism,” he said.
The development came just months after Qatar and its neighbors renewed ties after more than three years of a blockade imposed on Doha by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the UAE.
Qatari and UAE officials held their first meeting since the detente in February this year. In January, the UAE resumed air and sea entry points to Qatar.