“It’s fiction, it’s your right”: the shitstorm surrounding the Denzel Washington Netflix epic is expertly deflected

The two stars have proven several times in the past that Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua make a good team. After the crime thriller ‘Training Day’, which even won Washington the Oscar in the Best Actor category, the duo also worked together on the western remake ‘The Magnificent Seven’ and the tough action series ‘The Equalizer’.

A next project has also been announced in which Washington and Fuqua will work together again: The Netflix biopicHannibal“, which is entirely about the general of the same name from ancient times. Under the banner of Kathargo, he entered the struggle for power in the western Mediterranean against Rome, with the support of a huge army and 37 elephants. So you can be sure that a visually stunning historical epic awaits us here.

Criticism from Tunisia

In Tunisia, however, journalists and politicians have now criticized the fact that an African-American actor, Denzel Washington, should take on the role of Hannibal. In the Tunisian newspaper Popular hero Hannibal is described as a ‘legacy and identity-building reference’. The newspaper also writes that Washington’s occupation was a “historical mistake” because he was depicted as white on Carthaginian coins.

This outrage has now even led to Culture Minister Hayet Ketat-Guermazi speaking out. How According to reports, an MP saw the danger in the Netflix epic of distorting history. The minister, on the other hand, has now adequately derailed the entire discussion and stated: “It is fiction, it is her right. What must we do?”

Although this certainly does not stop all the voices shouting that Tunisian identity must be defended, Hayet Ketat-Guermazi has probably found exactly the right words to make it clear that this is ultimately still a fictional processing. Furthermore, Hannibal’s actual appearance is unknown.

It is still unclear who will play the lead role in ‘Hannibal’ besides Denzel Washington. There is no date yet known when the film will be released on Netflix. Lovers of brutal historical epics like ‘Napoleon’ and Co. should definitely have the film on their radar.