Valentino's Ghost

In this fascinating analysis, various sociologists and journalists discuss the role of American mass media in the image of Muslims and Arabs. In the early 20th century, inhabitants of the Arab world were still depicted as romantic rogues who enjoyed long nights in their harems, and silent movies like The Sheik made Rudolph Valentino a Hollywood icon. After Western countries started meddling in the oil-rich Middle East, the role of Arabs gradually became more criminal. Experts such as Gore Vidal and Robert Fisk review the historical events that caused the Arabs of the One Thousand and One Nights to metamorphose into barbarians who had to be tamed, all the way up to the prevailing view of Muslims as terrorists. On the basis of film excerpts that range from the Schwarzenegger vehicle True Lies to Disney's Aladdin, directors and sociologists talk about the influence of 9/11 as the perfect Hollywood movie script: foreign nationals perpetrating a spectacular attack on American soil. Stand-up comics lighten it all up with some sharp words for anti-Islam sentiment in the United States. Other causes of the stereotyping can be attributed to Americans' lack of interest in foreign policy, the role of religion and even the Holocaust. But has anyone ever bothered to ask Arabs why they're so angry at the United States? (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)