Friday, April 11, 2008

The 22nd Bond Movie - Now Offending Bolivians and Chileans

I'm fairly knowledgable in my James Bond movies (I've seen every movie, from the excellent Casino Royale to the painfully bad View to a Kill and the absurd Die Another Day, and all others). Given how well-done Casino Royale was, I'm pretty eager to see the 22nd movie, Quantum of Solace. However, perhaps I should have been brought on as a consultant to the film, because I'm aware of the legacy of the War of the Pacific, and I could have told the producers that using Chile to portray Bolivia would be a bad idea:

Chile-as-Bolivia has not been a popular choice, either: Hurt feelings remain between the South American neighbors over an 1879-84 war in which Chile took Bolivia's Pacific coastline. The two have not had diplomatic relations since 1978.
"We knew there was a war 100 years ago, but we didn't know it was
still an issue," [producer Michael G.] Wilson said.

Apparently, both Chileans and Bolivians are offended - Chile at being used as a surrogate for Bolivia, and Bolivia at not being used as "Bolivia." There's no real harm here, and it is a mildly amusing story. Maybe next time, the producers will do a little research on shooting locations first.