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Arts & Culture

INDEPENDENT LENS: Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto sits on a couch talking on the phone. "Bhutto" is the epic tale of the life and tragic death of Benazir Bhutto, who broke the Islamic glass ceiling as the first woman leader of a Muslim country.
Courtesy of Lichfield/Getty Images
Benazir Bhutto sits on a couch talking on the phone. "Bhutto" is the epic tale of the life and tragic death of Benazir Bhutto, who broke the Islamic glass ceiling as the first woman leader of a Muslim country.

Airs Sunday, May 15, 2011 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV

Bhutto and Pakistan

The history of Pakistan as a nation is not even 70 years long. But the young country occupies land where some of the earliest human civilizations are believed to have thrived. Through invasions and centuries-long dynasties, what is now Pakistan has been home to expansive Greek Hellenistic cultures, a vibrant Buddhist society, invading Mongols, and part of the British colony of India. Pakistani politics remain fraught with internal strife and controversy as it tries to move toward democracy in a region torn apart by war and sectarian violence. View the timeline

A portrait of one of the most fascinating and complex figures of our time, "Bhutto" is the epic tale of the life and tragic death of Benazir Bhutto, who broke the Islamic glass ceiling as the first woman leader of a Muslim country.

Beloved by the people of her native Pakistan, she was reviled by the nation’s military establishment and male-dominated ruling class.

More than two years after her death from a suicide bomber, Benazir remains a divisive figure, a symbolic metaphor for the fight between terrorism and moderation.

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That struggle continues today in Pakistan, the world’s most strategically important country and the Muslim world’s sole nuclear power. Directed by Duane Baughman and Johnny O’Hara.

The film "Bhutto" is on Facebook.

Watch the full episode. See more Independent Lens.

A portrait of one of the most fascinating and complex figures of our time, "Bhutto" is the epic tale of the life and tragic death of Benazir Bhutto, who broke the Islamic glass ceiling as the first woman leader of a Muslim country.

Watch the full episode. See more Independent Lens.

Watch the full episode. See more Independent Lens.