Thursday, March 28, 2024
ADVT 
National

George Clooney On Hurricane Harvey Legacy: 'Houston Is Syria'

The Canadian Press, 11 Sep, 2017 01:22 PM
    TORONTO — George Clooney says the storm devastation wrought in Houston is akin to the damage suffered in war-torn Syria.
     
    The movie star made the analogy at a press conference to promote his latest directorial effort, "Suburbicon," at the Toronto International Film Festival.
     
    Clooney urged people to help Houston residents still reeling from the aftermath of hurricane Harvey, declaring: "Houston is Syria, quite honestly."
     
    The movie star said victims of the storm are now refugees "based on something that had nothing to do with them."
     
    He also expressed concern for those in Florida, where a category 4 hurricane plowed through the Florida Keys hours earlier with 215 km/h winds.
     
    An estimated 127,000 people have taken cover in shelters statewide as rain knocked out power to more than one million customers.
     
    Talk turned political early on in Sunday's press conference, where Clooney and stars Matt Damon, Julianne Moore and Karimah Westbrook freely delved into current events.
     
    "People in Houston are now refugees based on something that had nothing to do with them," Clooney said of the disaster, which devastated much of Texas, caused at least 60 deaths and up to US$180 billion in damage.
     
     
    "They didn't do anything. They are now victims. And they are out of their homes and they're going to be suffering for a long time. And much like the people and children in Syria we are going to have to find ways to be involved. That is our job as citizens of the world and all of us are going to find our ways to do that."
     
    Moore agreed, wondering what it will take to "get beyond tribalism and nationalism and think of ourselves as human beings of the world."
     
    "This is happening everywhere, where people are being forced out of their homes and their nations and are looking for a place to go," said Moore.
     
    "And the only way we can help each other is by eradicating all of those borders and thinking globally."
     
    Racial tensions, rather than natural disasters, are what rip people apart in "Suburbicon," set in idyllic 1950s suburbia.
     
     
    The white neighbourhood explodes in racial violence when a black family moves in, a plot point inspired by a real incident in Levittown, Pa., in 1957.
     
    Clooney, who co-wrote the dark satire with longtime collaborator Grant Heslov and Joel and Ethan Coen, couldn't help but note the parallels to recent protests in Charlottesville, Va., and said the cast "just felt sick" when it came time to portray especially racially charged scenes.
     
    The Toronto International Film Festival wraps Sept. 17.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    'I'm Not Dying Today:' Teen Who Lost Mom To Grizzly Has Run-In With Bear Herself

    'I'm Not Dying Today:' Teen Who Lost Mom To Grizzly Has Run-In With Bear Herself
    CANMORE, Alta. — The daughter of an Alberta woman who died in a grizzly bear attack in 2005 says she now has a better sense of how her mom felt in the moments before she died thanks to her own run-in with a notorious bear.

    'I'm Not Dying Today:' Teen Who Lost Mom To Grizzly Has Run-In With Bear Herself

    RCMP Honour Mountie They Say Died Responding To Illegal Border Crossing Call

    RCMP Honour Mountie They Say Died Responding To Illegal Border Crossing Call
    REGINA — An annual RCMP service that honours fallen Mounties has this year paid tribute to an officer who the force says died while he was responding to a call about an illegal border crossing.

    RCMP Honour Mountie They Say Died Responding To Illegal Border Crossing Call

    B.C. Premier John Horgan Says Apology, Other Defences Mitigate Defamation Suit

    Horgan and B.C. Jobs Minister Bruce Ralston both filed statements of defence in court last week in reaction in a civil lawsuit launched by Gordon Wilson.

    B.C. Premier John Horgan Says Apology, Other Defences Mitigate Defamation Suit

    Mitchell Casavechia, Halifax Daycare Worker, Charged With Sexually Assaulting Child

    Mitchell Casavechia, Halifax Daycare Worker, Charged With Sexually Assaulting Child
    A Halifax daycare provider says it is trying to reassure parents after one of its employees was charged with sexually assaulting a young child on the job.

    Mitchell Casavechia, Halifax Daycare Worker, Charged With Sexually Assaulting Child

    Sped Through Construction Zone: Truck Driver Gets 3 Years For Killing 3 Teens

    Sped Through Construction Zone: Truck Driver Gets 3 Years For Killing 3 Teens
    MELFORT, Sask. — A truck driver who killed three Saskatchewan teenagers when his speeding semi rear-ended their car in a construction zone has been sentenced to three years in prison.

    Sped Through Construction Zone: Truck Driver Gets 3 Years For Killing 3 Teens

    Winnipeg Man Pleads Not Guilty To Letter-Bomb Charges, Fights DNA Evidence

    Winnipeg Man Pleads Not Guilty To Letter-Bomb Charges, Fights DNA Evidence
    WINNIPEG — A man accused of sending letter bombs in the mail, including one that cost his ex-wife's lawyer her hand, pleaded not guilty Monday to five counts of attempted murder and to several explosives-related charges.

    Winnipeg Man Pleads Not Guilty To Letter-Bomb Charges, Fights DNA Evidence

    PrevNext