Salvador (Special Edition) (DVD)

...Central America in general and Salvador in particular seemed quite remote 3000 miles away in England. It's easy to make simple assumptions - "oh yes, America will deal with it and all will be well again." But that's just the abstract spin-doctor view any dodgy Government would want us, the public, to believe in.

I saw this movie many years ago on the BBC during one of their political film seasons. I woudn't have really bothered ...
...lot of dirty linen hidden away. Salvador is no Bleeding Heart act of Liberalism or political correctness; it offers a documentary style view of the harsh realities that happen to people when the Great and the Good betray them so badly!

A masterpiece!

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American foreign policy was a dirty business back in the Reagan 80s. The troubles of Central America in general and Salvador in particular seemed quite remote 3000 miles away in England. It's easy to make simple assumptions - "oh yes, America will deal with it and all will be well again." But that's just the abstract spin-doctor view any dodgy Government would want us, the public, to believe in.

I saw this movie many years ago on the BBC during one of their political film seasons. I woudn't have really bothered but I'm a great fan of James Woods, and I'd also seen "Under Fire" the week before and that too had Central America in its sights.

Expecting some kind of crusade against corruption and easy way out conclusions I stared in growing disbelief as the film unravelled the true horrors of what was actually happening in that poor strife-torn & betrayed country.

Woods gives the performance of a lifetime as Richard Boyle, the sleazy freelance reporter with no feelings for anyone other than himself and a bottle of juice.

But even he becomes a changed man after seeing the carnage & human rubbish dumps that strewned the country; even more so when he finds out how American politicians seem to move allegiance to whichever faction seems to be winning at the time while letting the people suffer an intolerable Hell.

Woods is ably supported by James Belushi, a burnt out DJ with nothing better to do that tout along with Woods on their journey into Central America. And then there's the spirited offering from John Savage as the dedicated photographer looking for that "one defining photograph of truth".

But this is a Woods film through & through. You always get full entertainment from any of his films; he puts in so much emotion & intensity that you end up biting your nails for him. It's a great disservice he didn't even get an Oscar for this, but who cares about plastic baubbles for the sake of great acting!

This is a truly harrowing film and although this is an Oliver Stone directed movie it does follow a lot of factual lines without being buried with Stone's politically sharpened axes.

And I have to say I have seen many horrific moments on film both fact & fiction, but I still have nightmares about the graphic abduction, rape & murder of a group of nuns in this film, but which actually happened in real life!

America, like a lot of great democratic countries, has an awful lot of dirty linen hidden away. Salvador is no Bleeding Heart act of Liberalism or political correctness; it offers a documentary style view of the harsh realities that happen to people when the Great and the Good betray them so badly!

A masterpiece!

 

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