Nicole Kidman in the film The Interpreter

Harare, Sept. 4 (AFP): Zimbabwe today said a recent Hollywood film starring Nicole Kidman was a “CIA-sponsored” campaign targeting President Robert Mugabe and vowed to fight the “cultural and psychological” onslaught on Harare.

Acting information minister Chen Chimutengwende said that the film The Interpreter about an octogenarian African leader who plans to address the UN General Assembly to ward off indictment by the international criminal court, was a thinly-disguised swipe at Mugabe.

Directed by Hollywood veteran Sydney Pollack, the film stars Sean Penn and Kidman ? a UN translator from the fictional African nation of Matobo ? whose life turns topsy-turvy after she unwittingly learns of a plot to assassinate the country’s hated leader before he addresses the UN.

“The names of the main character in the film are Shona,” Chimutengwende said, referring to Zimbabwe’s main ethnic group to which Mugabe belongs.

“The film talks about an African President going to the United Nations and our President is going to the UN next week.”