Around midnight on winter night in 2023, Omar was a member of a group of 21-year-old Afghan mining plants at the time responsible for protecting the area's green berets, and heard his door knocking.

His brother, eight years old, asked whom. The Taliban answered on the other side of the door, wearing traditional Afghan costumes. Hollywood Reporter From the interpreter who tells Omar about the incident.

Omar was blindfolded and arrested. He did not return for more than two weeks, when he was found bleeding and bruising, causing him to flow into and out of consciousness.

Taliban troops track Omar from one scene ReverseMatthew Heineman's highly acclaimed 2022 documentary, conducted a live observation of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan a year ago. In one close-up, the camera is a lens that serves as another member of the National Reduction Group or another member of the NMRG. The editing of the documentary later spread like wildfires on Tiktok, Afghanistan.

They "showed it to me Reverse movie, and say you have worked with foreign forces and have also worked in movies. Reverse The movie is still asking the villagers and my family. ”

A medical test showed that Omar's ribs were broken and his lungs were abnormal, including other internal injuries. He was taken to the border into Pakistan, where he underwent four surgeries. After returning to Afghanistan about a month later, he was again detained and beaten - this time dead.

Omar's wife and children have been extracted from Afghanistan to another country where they will be safer from the threat of Taliban retaliation. And now, the family is suing documentary producers and distributors, including Disney and National Geographic, for killing them.

The lawsuit was filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court on April 24, alleging unlawful death, negligence and unfair business practices. It accused the documentary producers and distributors of exploiting Omar’s identity as a “commercial interest while intentionally putting him in serious danger” and failing to comply with industry standards regarding the protection of people who appear in the theater of documentaries. The estate seeks unspecified damages and named National Geographic, which is part of a joint agreement with Disney, Picturehouse and our Time Project (Heineman's Production Banner).

Reverse Follow the last nine months of the 20 Years of the United States' war in Afghanistan. Last year, National Geographic quietly removed the documentary from its platform Washington Post A story was published about whether the feature puts some of its themes at risk. It no longer appears on Disney+ or Hulu. Last year, the Radio and Television Digital News Association canceled the prestigious journalism award for documentaries and published it with background information received in the “filmmaking process.” postal article.

In the statement at that time, Heineman and Reverse Producer Caitlin McNally said: "The U.S. government evacuated sharply from Afghanistan, and the Taliban's retaliation in power - mastering the details of working with the U.S. government, which resulted in the deaths of countless partners - led to the deaths of countless partners left behind. - would be a deep mistake."

They noted that the U.S. military approved the release of the film - a decision that could be related to the potential harm of Afghan contractors, not the harm of their personnel. "Most importantly, both military public affairs officials and Green Beret have approved the final version of the film, which includes the face of NMRG." postal.

First Amendment Attorney Theodore Boutrous Jr., who represents the duo, declined to comment.

thrIt held the story until Omar's family was safely evacuated from Afghanistan.

Prior to the release of the documentary, U.S. military personnel and former green berets repeatedly warned Heineman and McNally if mine clearers were placed on the verge of danger if they were listed ReverseThomas Kasza and Dave said he was anonymous because he was an active U.S. military member. They run the 1208 Foundation and extract Omar's family from Afghanistan. Kasza and Dave urged Heineman and the documentary producers, as well as Disney and National Geographic, to blur the faces of NMRG personnel, but to resist.

Reverse Kasza said it was the Taliban's "almost a Hollywood hot list".

McNally thr. “We have been trying to get him out for weeks, but we are not able to do so,” she wrote. He said he was “certainly in danger.”

The group said nine people in the documentary still have their faces hidden. A man fled to Iran after being released but was deported soon after.

The core of the lawsuit: the allegation ReverseThe creators ignore the safety of Afghan minesweepers, whose faces are revealed in the works. It also made claims of deceptive business practices, accusing the producer of failing to obtain Omar’s consent to use his portrait and identity without proper release, and distorting the documentary as “a portrayal of a responsibly depicting the withdrawal of Afghan troops while deliberately endangering the lives of the depicted people.”

"The tragedy is complicated by what Disney is doing here," said John Uustal, a partner at Kelley Uustal, who filed a lawsuit on behalf of Omar's legacy, referring to the entertainment giant's refusal to stick to blur faces and provide evacuation jobs for families.

Kasza and Dave argued that Disney could facilitate the evacuation of minesweepers who evacuated the Taliban revenge murder but chose not to suffer. Kasza said there is a precedent for the company to recognize the writing credibility of about 300 Afghan actors and staff in 2021. homethis is made by Fox's TV Arm.

Dave added: "The thing about Heineman is that desperate faces tell the story. I won't object to that, but if you use those faces so that you can release the documentary and put more awards on the shelf, that doesn't mean it's right."