An upcoming film project on the Pan Am Flight 103 tragedy is bad news for Susan Lowenstein.

‘People who do not believe that al-Megrahi is guilty are the ones making the movie. This is not what I believe,’ Lowenstein said.

Lowenstein’s son Alexander, then 21, died when Pan Am Flight 103 went down over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988. The crash resulted in the deaths of 270 people, including 35 Syracuse University students returning from semesters abroad in London and Florence.

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence official and the only person ever convicted in the 1988 bombing, died May 20.

The movie will be based off of the book ‘Lockerbie: The Framing of Al-Megrahi,’ written by Jim Swire and Peter Biddulph, said Richard Jeffs, literary agent to the two authors. Jeffs said in an email that Lockerbie Productions Inc. was created for this specific project. He added that the film will be based around Swire’s life.

Swire, who lost his daughter Flora to the Pan Am bombing, argues in his book that important details of the tragedy have yet to be discovered. Both he and Biddulph believe that al-Megrahi was innocent and that evidence was manufactured in order to prove him guilty, according to Swire and Biddulph’s official website.

Lockerbie Productions is in the current stages of writing the screenplay for the film, Jeffs said. Filming is expected to start in 2013 and release about a year later.

Lowenstein, who attended al-Megrahi’s trial, was satisfied with the verdict. However, the makers of the upcoming film did not share the same opinion, she said.

‘I think the movie is going to result in propaganda for their beliefs,’ Lowenstein said.

Lowenstein is afraid the upcoming film is going to misinform the SU community. She added that it might result in people believing something that is not true, she said.

‘I want those that will watch the film to remember what the trial brought forth, which I’m not sure will be portrayed realistically,’ Lowenstein said. ‘I doubt that they will be neutral in covering it all. I think they’re just going to do what they believe happened.’

Remembrance Week is an annual event put on by the SU community to remember the students who passed away. Thirty-five Remembrance Scholarships and two Lockerbie Scholarships are awarded every year.

Senior Michelle Tarshus, a Remembrance Scholar, was unaware of the making of the film. She said in an email that she hopes the movie will shed light on the event for those who may not know anything about the bombing and also help remember the lives that were lost.

‘I think that it is critical to highlight the effect that this attack had on the families,’ said Tarshus, an information management and technology major. ‘Not necessarily in a mournful way, but in the passion that they had as they sought out justice for their family members.’

Matt Musacchio’s initial reaction was concern. The Remembrance Scholar said in an email that he is worried about how the movie will affect the families still dealing with the tragedy.

‘I would hope that the movie would be at least a relatively accurate portrayal of events that does justice to those lost,’ said Musacchio, a senior public relations major.

Becoming a Remembrance Scholar has made Musacchio understand the effect of Pan Am 103 and the importance of honoring those who died, he said.

‘You realize that it’s so much more than just details on a Wikipedia page,’ Musacchio said. ‘I think a movie has the potential to bring some of those details and stories to life, as long as it’s done the right way.’

mhnewman@syr.edu   

Published on June 1, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Meredith: mhnewman@syr.edu | @MerNewman93