Stockholm Film Festival

Venezuela and its socialist president HugoChávez are the starting points for this bloodsoakedhistory lesson on Latin American socialmovements and how the US has intervened tosuppress democracy whenever it has clashedwith US interests.Besides Venezuela, Pilger and Martin useGuatemala, Chile, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Cubaand Bolivia to show the extent of US support todictators and of brutal torture in the name ofdemocracy during the last 50 years. Whetheror not you share the directors’ enthusiasm forChávez’s politics, this is an engaging, frighteningand beautifully-shot film about a continuingstruggle.One of the film’s most unnerving momentsis when Duane Clarridge, chief of the CIA’sLatin America department from 1981 to 1984, defends the Pinochet-regime in Chile. Clarridgetakes the interview as an opportunity to delivera message for the future: ”We’ll intervenewhenever we decide it’s in our national securityinterest to intervene – and if you don’t like itlump it! Get used to it world!”Yet the film reflects a growing movement ofhopeful resistance.

Premiere Status

Swedish Premiere

Cast

Hugo Chávez, John Pilger

Producer

Christopher Martin

Script

John Pilger

Cinematography

Preston Clothier, Rupert Binsley

Music

Shaun Macartney

Spoken language

English, Spanish

 

Other films from the Collage section

See all the festival films from 2007