Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has delivered a stunning indictment of her home country, the United States of America, voicing concern over threats to free expression while presenting her latest film at Spain’s San Sebastián film festival.
The actor’s comments come in a climate of growing concerns about President Donald Trump’s crackdown on critical media, particularly after the recent suspension of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel‘s show over comments on the killing of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
‘I don’t recognise my country’
At the festival, after she was asked if she feared for freedom of speech in the United States, Angelina said, “I love my country, but I don’t at this time recognise my country.”
The actor added, “Anything, anywhere, that divides or, of course, limits personal expressions and freedoms, and from anyone, I think, is very dangerous. These are very, very heavy times we’re all living in together.”
On Couture
The 50-year-old was in San Sebastian to promote her film Couture. Directed by French filmmaker Alice Winocour, Couture is competing for the festival’s top prize, the Golden Shell.
In the film, Angelina plays Maxine Walker, an American film director facing divorce and a serious illness while navigating Paris Fashion Week and embarking on a romance with a colleague, played by French actor Louis Garrel.
The Oscar-winning actor said she related personally to the struggles of her latest character. Angelina underwent a double mastectomy in 2013 and later had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed to reduce her high genetic risk of cancer, which claimed the lives of her mother and grandmother.
“I wish she was able to speak more as openly as I have been, and have people respond as graciously as you have, and not feel as alone,” she said, looking visibly moved. “There’s something very particular to women’s cancers, because obviously it affects us, you know, how we feel as women,” she added.
(With AFP inputs)
