Bhutto

Bhutto (2009)

Sub-Genres - Biography, Politics & Government, Social History  |   Release Date - Dec 3, 2010 (USA)  |   Run Time - 115 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Mark Deming

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was the founder of the People's Party of Pakistan and the patriarch of one of the nation's most powerful political dynasties, and when he fell from power after a spell as Pakistan's first democratically elected prime minister, he made a surprising decision -- he groomed his daughter Benazir Bhutto to move into Pakistan's political arena rather than his son. Benazir was bright (she studied at Harvard and Oxford), personable, and had a campaigner's instincts, but it was anyone's guess how successful any woman could be in a Muslim nation where the authority of women was still questioned. In 1988, Benazir was voted prime minister of Pakistan, but was removed from office in 1990 under allegations of corruption she insisted were politically motivated; she was voted back into office in 1993, but further scandals once again drove her from office in 1996, and she eventually fled the country despite her popularity with voters. In 2007, Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan, hoping to run for office and reassert the power of democracy at a time when Muslim fundamentalist leadership threatened to move political progress backward, but her assassination in December 2007 put an end to that dream. Filmmakers Jessica Hernandez and Johnny O'Hara tell the story of the first woman elected to lead a Muslim nation in the documentary Bhutto, which explores the history of Pakistani politics, Benazir's relationship with her controversial family, the scandals that surrounded her, and her tragic death. Bhutto received its North American premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

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Keywords

allegations, assassination, democracy, dynasty, Pakistan, politician, politics, Prime-Minister