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Beyond Hollywood

James R. Brantley/The Washington Times Producer Sybil Robson Orr (left), climber Erik Weihenmayer, and climber and Braille Without Borders founder Sabriye Tenberken worked together on the documentary "Blindsight."

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Many critics are asking why Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke has remade his controversial 1997 Austrian feature "Funny Games." It's a nearly shot-for-shot remake, so the only differences are the actors and the language spoken — the new "Funny Games," starring Naomi Watts and Tim Roth as a vacationing couple with child who are taken hostage by a pair of young sadists, was filmed mostly on Long Island.

What I want to know, however, is why it has taken Mr. Haneke so long to make an English-language film. "Funny Games," after all, clearly was meant to provoke American audiences and shows a deep interest in the effects of American cinema.

Speaking by telephone from New York, the 65-year-old director responds simply, "Nobody asks me." (Mr. Haneke uses a translator for a little more than half the interview, speaking English the rest of the time.)

It's a surprising answer because Mr. Haneke's films are well-known to art-house audiences here. "The Piano Teacher" won the Grand Prix at Cannes. His last film, 2005's "Cache," won Mr. Haneke a best-directing prize at Cannes and played in America to mostly glowing reviews.

His films take no prisoners; hence the name of a series running in the District: "Michael Haneke: A Cinema of Provocation." However, in an interview on the DVD of the original "Funny Games," Mr. Haneke says, "It's the only film I made to provoke."

"Funny Games" is something of an intellectual exercise — a condemnation of the way violence is treated in film — and also an example of what it condemns. It entertains at the same time as it provokes.

"That's the whole point of the movie," Mr. Haneke says. "The suspense is the glue which glues the viewer to his seat."

What led to this provocation? "I was upset, I am upset, about this cynical exploitation of violence in the media," Mr. Haneke declares. "Violence is something horrible. In the movies, it becomes a consumer article. I abhor that. I detest that."

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