‘I don’t recognise my country,’ says US actress Angelina Jolie

San Sebastian, Spain – American actress Angelina Jolie said on Sept 21 she no longer recognises her country, voicing concern over threats to free expression while presenting her latest film at Spain’s San Sebastian film festival.

Her comments come as worries grow over free speech in the United States, after President Donald Trump’s crackdown on critical media and the recent suspension of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s show over his comments on the killing of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.

“I love my country, but I don’t at this time recognise my country,” Jolie said when asked if she feared for freedom of speech in the US.

“Anything, anywhere, that divides or, of course, limits personal expressions and freedoms and, from anyone, I think is very dangerous,” she added. “These are very, very heavy times we’re all living in together.”

Jolie, 50, was in San Sebastian to promote Couture, directed by French film-maker Alice Winocour, which is competing for the festival’s top prize, the Golden Shell.

The actress 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 actress – honoured for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Girl, Interrupted (1999) – said she related personally to the struggles of her latest character.

Jolie 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.

Visibly moved, she said she thought often of her mother while making the film.

“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,” Jolie said.

“There’s something very particular to women’s cancers because obviously, it affects us, you know, how we feel as women,” she added. AFP