On December 27, the world will observe the third anniversary of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the first woman elected to lead a Muslim country.
The story of Benazir's life includes hijackings, corruption allegations, unsolved murders and countless conspiracies. In deciding to translate her life to film, we believed that a fair, even-handed appraisal of Benazir Bhutto would provoke the ire of both her critics as well as her supporters. We were right. With a subject as controversial as Benazir, we would be more concerned if the reactions were polite and restrained.
Convincing Benazir's political rival Gen Pervez Musharraf to appear on film was not easy. The effort took a respectful letter, followed by a bottle of Chivas Regal and Cuban cigars delivered to his hotel suite in Philadelphia, where he was speaking on a tour of the US to rehabilitate his image. With much flattery and a bit of arm-twisting, we were able to elicit a short interview and took the opportunity to ask some tough questions. Gen Musharraf's appearance in the film provoked a surprise visit from his son Bilal the following year at the Sundance Film Festival. Following a screening, he stood at the back of a packed theatre, veins bulging in anger, and accused us of smearing his father's good name to build up Benazir.
The audience was stunned and fell completely silent. We suggested to Musharraf that it wasn't so much the film but history and public opinion that takes a dim view of military dictators.
A series of serendipitous events contributed to the making of Benazir. While filming the convent where Benazir was educated, we unexpectedly stumbled upon her teacher, an elderly nun who charmingly described Benazir's rarely examined early years.
When Karachi's chaotic streets prevented our film crew from reaching the airport to catch the only daily flight to Benazir's mausoleum in Sukkur, we were saved at the last minute by a phone call from President Zardari, who held our plane - and its agitated Sindhi passengers - on the tarmac for over an hour until we were safely aboard. Most importantly, we discovered never before heard microcassette tapes of hours of interviews with Benazir recorded by writer Linda Bird Franke decades before and forgotten in an attic in New England. As a result, Benazir narrates her own life throughout the film, speaking intimately about the emotional toll of a life lived in the public eye and the sacrifices that come with the Bhutto name.
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