Review: Bhutto

In 1988 Pakistan elected its youngest and first female prime minister in Benazhir Bhutto. Bhutto became a valuable ally to Western leaders as an example of the precarious but burgeoning democractic progress in the Middle East. Even her assassination in late 2007, was mostly covered as a BFF contest for the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates.

Bhutto, Jessica Hernández and Johnny O'Hara's Sundance documentary competition film, focuses on the tempestuous family and national entanglements that led to her rise and fall from power. The film draws many parallels between the difficulties within the Bhutto family and the state of Pakistan itself -- both inherently lack a stable foundation or sense of unity, absences which constantly undermine the chance of significant progress.

Benazir's father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was a self-aggrandizing but charismatic and progressive leader. He championed education and pushed for worldwide recognition of Pakistan, whose basic geography was constantly under threat of being re-written by neighboring India. But because he was so hated by the conservative religious and military elements in his country, once his popularity slipped with the people he was unseated and eventually executed on charges of conspiracy to assassinate a rival.  

Benazir, whose political conscience was born in the flames of the 1960s radicalism she witnessed on the Harvard and Oxford campuses, became galvanized by the (self-described) martyring of her father. She took over her his political party and set her sights on becoming the next Prime Minister, which she did when the previous PM fell out of favor with the people and was imprisoned. Yet she quickly learned that even top-down change doesn't turn on a dime, especially in a country where the military and scientific community (which, at this point, was developing nuclear weaponry) doesn't recognize the legitimacy of its own government's leadership. Bhutto was ultimately deposed, imprisoned, exiled, returned, lauded and re-elected after a rival prime minister (Khalid) fell out of public favor.  

The comparison is made many times throughout the film that the Bhuttos are essentially Pakistan's version of the Kennedys. Both families are  enormous, hyper-intelligent, preternaturally photogenic (okay, maybe not so Kennedy-esque on that one) and deeply invested with a sense of civic responsibility. Since that investment is so insulated in a lives of privilege, it comes with no small amount of vanity. Interestingly, since Pakistan's largest institutions are in a constant state of chaos, civic responsibilty takes far weirder forms for the Bhuttos. In 1981 Benazir's brother Murtaza hijacked a plane, ostensibly for the release of a few vaguely described political prisoners, leaving one person dead.

Not unlike the US's romantic obsession with the Kennedys, there is zero reflection on how political dynasties can both create and undermine a national identity. It's never mentioned that for as talented and caring as the Bhuttos try to be, part of the problem for Pakistan may be that 50% of their political history has been controlled by one family, let alone a family whose internal power struggles manifest in constant public squabbling, plane hijackings and assassination attempts. At least the vainglorious Kennedys understand the value of keeping a public face on internal strife. The film also glides right over mentions that the New York Times published pieces of Mullah-sponsored propaganda that landed Bhutto in prison (a second time) and that CNN published her hacked private emails after she was assassinated. Instead, Bhutto is made into a martyr, who, in the film-makers' eyes at least, was her country's last hope. It's reductive and inherently dishonest.

Bhutto functions well as a privileged people's history of Pakistan. Certainly, audiences walk away with a few more details of the ingrained grudges that prevent a more comprehensive national unity. But by reducing so much of the political history as a reason-less toggling between two parties (who imprison all members of the opposition when in power), the complex role Pakistan plays on the world stage is turned into bloody melodrama that occasionally veers into The Gods Must Be Crazy territory.

Bhutto screened at Sundance 2010 Film Festival and is currently seeking US distribution.

Comments

[Amir Jaffer]

Sorry but you got your "facts" wrong. Benazir Bhutto was first deposed in 1990 and again in 1996, but she was never imprisoned. She went in to self imposed exile in 1999 and returned in 2007, after the U.S. pushed President General Musharaf to enter in to a power sharing arrangement. And Khaild was a care-taker PM after Bhutto's Govt. was dismissed in 1996. After the elections, Nawaz Sharif became PM for the second time. Khalid was not elected and never "fell out of public favor". His job was to hold elections of 1997.
Also, Benazir Bhutto succeeded Prime Minister Junejo in 1988, who fell out of favor with then President Zia. Junejo was never imprisoned as you had mentioned. Zia died in a mysterious plane crash before the elections of 1988 paving the way for Benazir and her father's PPP to freely participate in the elections.