TENS OF thousands of cheering Georgians filled the streets in front of their parliament this week, but they came to make a film, not stage one of the capital's frequent mass demonstrations.
Tuesday night's crowd gathered for a scene in a Hollywood film about the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, with the working title Georgia, in which Andy Garcia plays Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili.
The filmmakers have said they are not making pro
paganda, but the movie seems certain to figure in the ongoing struggle between Russia and Georgia over how their short war is remembered.
Garcia, mimicking the gestures of the sometimes emotional Georgian president, spoke to the crowd during a re-creation of a real demonstration that took place 12 August, 2008, toward the end of fighting.
Mock demonstrators carried banners reading "Russian Troops Get Out of Georgia", while actors playing the presidents of Poland and the Baltic states appeared on a stage in support of Garcia as Mr Saakashvili.
The Russian media have questioned whether director Renny Harlin's film will take the Georgian side in portraying the conflict. A recent Russian film used the fictional story of a nerdy American scientist and a blonde Russian photojournalist to offer the Kremlin's version of the war.
Harlin, best known for Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger, has said the tale of a journalist and cameraman caught up in the fighting is an impartial indictment of war.
He said the film would have a universal appeal. "I am from a small country myself – Finland originally – so I know what kind of things small countries can sometimes go through."
Several people in the crowd on Tuesday said they hoped the film would rally international support behind Georgia.
A September report by a panel sponsored by the EU concluded Georgia had started the war with an indiscriminate rocket and artillery barrage on the capital of the separatist-controlled region of South Ossetia. The report also found Russia had taunted and provoked Georgia for years before the assault, then responded with disproportionate force, sending its troops deep into undisputed Georgian territory.
"It's good that the Americans are shooting a film about our war," said Dzhemal Maziashvili, 72. "If they tell the truth, the whole world will learn it. Let everybody know that Russia is an aggressor and that it can be cruel.
"I very much hope that the film will be truthful."
Teacher Zemfira Akim, 40, said: "Many people abroad don't know what really happened in Georgia. Maybe this film will help them understand."
The state-owned TV network Russia Today asked in a headline on its website: "Will Andy Garcia Eat His Tie?" The question refers to BBC video clip of Mr Saakashvili nervously chewing on his tie in the aftermath of the war, a clip that has aired repeatedly on Russian television networks.
"So, it's not yet known whether Georgian authorities are planning to use the screenplay as yet another instrument to blacken the Russian side and again complain upon hearing a threat from Russia which, obviously, seems to exist only in their imagination," Russia Today's website said.
