South of the Border
Product ID: 2784992
Product Description There s a revolution underway in South America, but most of the world doesn t know it. Oliver Stone sets out on a road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media s misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents. In casual conversations with Presidents Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and ex-President Nestor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Raúl Castro (Cuba), Stone gains unprecedented access and sheds new light upon the exciting transformations in the region. Review VENICE -- Good-humored, illuminating and without cant, Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone's documentary South of the Border; is a rebuttal of what he views as the fulminations and lies of right-wing media at home and abroad regarding the socialist democracies of South America. Featuring interviews with seven national leaders who all express great affection for their neighbors to the north if not for historical U.S. foreign policy, the film suggests a clear way forward for a continent that has largely shaken off the grip of imperialism and what Stone calls predatory capitalism as opposed to benign capitalism. Greeted with extended applause at its Venice press and industry screening, the film will fare well internationally and will attract liberal audiences in Stone's homeland. Conservative outrage could also spark wider interest, and it should thrive among educators and have a long ancillary life. Clips from CNN and Fox News establish quickly the buffoonish tone with which news about South American politics is usually treated with democratically elected leaders invariably depicted as dictators, but Stone also indicts the network news and media institutions including the New York Times. Following a brief history of the events in Venezuela that led to the presidency of Hugo Chavez, Stone shows how the media in that country altered film of violent demonstrations to show his supporters firing on their opposition and how those images were fed to the rest of the world. He details similar exaggerations in other countries and quotes facts and figures from each region. His cameras follow Chavez, who was born in poverty, to the place of his childhood and on trips to a cattle farm and a plant that produces flour with help from Iran. On the way there, Chavez tells the director - This is where we're building the Iranian atomic bomb. There is similar black humor from other leaders with Rafael Correa of Ecuador saying of the U.S. media - I'd be more worried if they spoke well of me. The expressed view of the fraternal leaders is that they want independence and equality, and freedom from the International Monetary Fund and U.S. economic control. They all see in President Barack Obama the opportunity for lasting, mutually beneficial change. Stone is clearly impressed with the leaders he meets, and there are many relaxed scenes, including one in which he gets a great kick out of Bolivian leader Evo Morales showing him the best coca leaves to chew, a benign cure for the nauseous effects of the altitude in La Paz. --Ray Bennett - The Hollywood Reporter P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); About the Actor Hugo Rafael Chávez Frias was elected by a landslide in December of 1998, with 56 percent of the votes. In 2000, after a constitutional congress approved a new constitution, Chávez was reelected with 59.8 percent of the votes to serve a new six-year term. Most recently, he was reelected in 2006, receiving 63 percent of the vote. Campaigning as a political outsider, Chávez pledged to reclaim Venezuela s oil wealth in the name of the poor and put an end to four decades of corrupt party politics by holding a constitutional assembly to write a new constitution. Supported by the poor and previously excluded majority, Chávez s election marked a departure from Venezuela s traditionally elite-dominated politics. Unlike Venezuela s past presidents, Chávez experienced poverty firsthand during his childhood and early formative years. He was raised by his grandmother in a very poor household, often lacking the most basic necessities. At the age of 17 he joined the Venezuelan military and subsequently attended the University of Simon Bolivar. He eventually attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. In February, 1989, following a protracted political and economic crisis, President Carlos Andres Pérez agreed to implement a radical neoliberal adjustment package at the behest of the IMF. Authorities consequently raised the price of fuel, causing bus fares to double overnight. Fed up with the corruption and abuses of the ruling elite, hundreds of thousands around the country began demonstrating and eventually rioting against these harsh economic shock policies. The next day, on February 28, President Pérez declared martial law and sent the military into Venezuela s slums to put down the revolt by any means necessary. The result was the indiscriminate killing of hundreds and perhaps thousands of civilians. The wave of protests, rioting and subsequent government repression known as the Caracazo heightened the political crisis and prompted Chávez, along with several collaborators, to attempt a coup d etat against the Pérez administration on February 4, 1992. Although the coup failed and Chávez was jailed, it succeeded in catapulting him to national fame. Pérez was subsequently impeached on corruption charges and removed from office by the Supreme Court on May 20, 1993. Chávez growing popularity as a hero who stood up to a corrupt and repressive government led Pérez s successor, President Rafael Caldera, to issue a presidential decree pardoning him for the attempted coup. After his release in 1994, Chávez harnessed his newfound popularity to organize a political movement to reform Venezuela. Once in power, Chávez s first move was to promote a constitutional assembly to write a new constitution. The new constitution was adopted in December, 1999 following a constitutional referendum the first of its kind in Venezuela in which the nation s new charter was approved by 71.78% of voters. During the first four years of his administration, however, Chávez s efforts to implement modest economic reforms and assert more direct state control over the nation s prosperous oil sector were met with intense opposition from Venezuela s moneyed elite, who repeatedly tried to oust him through a series of strikes, a coordinated media campaign and eventually a coup d etat in February 2002. With key support from the mainstream media and the U.S. government, Venezuela s business community conspired with elements of the military to overthrow Chávez. The coup plotters installed Pedro Carmona, the head of the Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce, as dictator, who then proceeded to dissolve the National Assembly and the Supreme Court and declared the 1999 constitution void. The coup regime, however, only managed to hold on to power for 47 hours, as a wave of grassroots protests rose up About the Director Oliver Stone was born September 15, 1946 in New York, New York. Prior to his film career, Stone worked as a schoolteacher in Vietnam, a Merchant Marine sailor, taxi driver, messenger, production assistant, and sales representative. He served in the U.S. Army Infantry in Vietnam in 1967-68. He was wounded twice and decorated with the Bronze Star for Valor. After returning from Vietnam, he completed his undergraduate studies at New York University Film School in 1971. He has directed: W. ( 08), World Trade Center ( 06), Alexander ('04), Any Given Sunday ( 99), U-Turn ( 97), Nixon ( 95), Natural Born Killers ( 94), Heaven and Earth ( 93), JFK ( 91), The Doors ( 91), Born On The Fourth Of July ( 89), Talk Radio ( 88), Wall Street ( 87), Platoon ( 86), Salvador ( 86), The Hand ( 81) and Seizure ( 73). He s written or co-written all of the above, with the exception of U-Turn, World Trade Center and W. Stone has also written or co-written: Midnight Express ( 78), Scarface ( 83), Conan The Barbarian ( 82), Year Of The Dragon ( 85), Evita ( 96), and 8 Million Ways To Die ( 86). He has directed three documentaries -- Looking for Fidel ('04), Comandante ('03), Persona Non Grata ('03). Stone has produced or co-produced: The People vs. Larry Flynt ( 96), The Joy Luck Club ( 93), Reversal of Fortune ( 90), Savior ( 98), Freeway ( 96), South Central ( 98), Zebrahead ( 92), Blue Steel ( 90), and the ABC mini-series Wild Palms ( 93). An Emmy was given to him and his co-producer for the HBO film Indictment: The McMartin Trial, and he was nominated for the documentary The Last Days of Kennedy and King. Stone has won Oscars for directing Born On The Fourth Of July and Platoon, and for writing Midnight Express. He was nominated for director (JFK) and co-writer (Nixon). He s also received three Golden Globes for directing (Platoon, Born On The Fourth Of July and JFK), and one for writing (Midnight Express). See more
B**O
Important Document
This film is Oliver Stone's attempt to explore and explain the Bolivarian revolutions that have taken place in Latin America recently. The filmmaker had great access to the leaders of these countries, who seemed willing to discuss their ideas openly and with an honesty almost never seen North of the border. I was greatly impressed by these people, even Chavez, whose methods have drawn so much controversy from a pop media that doesn't seem interested in the ideas or the movement that brought him to power. (Recently, when his side suffered some losses in elections, the story spun here remained that the people were dissatisfied with Chavez as some sort of autocrat for taking leftist policy directions, while in fact it was his own supporters that felt he was moving too cautiously and becoming too enmeshed with outside interests--in other words, that he wasn't far left enough for them.)The key to understanding all these leaders, though, as becomes apparent from what they describe as the history of Latin America living under failed neoliberal schemes devised by academics and bankers in America and Europe, are the broad social movements that support them. Reducing the main space of the film to "hearing the leader speak" seems inappropriate. There is some discussion of local causes, but the social movements themselves remain absent. It is, after all, an assumption of liberal-democratic thought to believe that the leaders represent them. But it no doubt appealed to Stone, who despite his seeming left-leaning status in the U.S., is not a leftist. He's a progressive believer in "helpful capitalism," as he reveals near the end of the film, not exactly something even Lula, the most moderate of the bunch presented here, would agree to. (Lula's version would be closer to "tamed capitalism," or as close as one can get today.)This is a first-rate documentary. And it's far more important than its relatively unknown place in Stone's work suggests.
S**D
We need to leave South America alone
This most interesting documentary has been broadcast on television twice, at least, in the past couple of months, and I was fortunate enough to see it both times and then ordered the DVD. Both Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez are very interesting to listen to, but Oliver Stone may have had a few stars in his eyes when he made this. It seems very one-sided as far as seeing only the good in Chavez, but if one is going to make a documentary about someone, one can hardly expect to criticize and blame. Chavez of Venezuela comes across as a very good guy in this film, but the Venezuelans that I know and know of all like him.The one point that came across loudest from the South American heads of state was that the United States needs to stay out of the business of these countries. South America is changing slowly, and it's going to be a new day for it, with or without the U.S. We've interfered both in Venezuela and Bolivia because these countries have oil and natural gas, respectively. Water, according to Evo Morales, the first indigenous president of Bolivia, has been a big problem since a U.S. company bought up their water company and then when Bolivian people wanted to use cisterns to collect rain water, this company said no, that they must use only the company-owned water and of course, pay for it. No free rain water.I encourage everyone who can to watch "South of the Border" and judge for yourself what you think of it. I enjoyed it very much and learned a thing or two. This is a documentary that I can watch over again and enjoy every time.
P**T
Informative film, interesting documentary style but perhaps unacceptable
I am updating this review (2013)in light of the recent death of President Chavez and also the less recent change in Paraguay from left to centrist government. The section of this film on Chavez may be one of the few that North Americans can ever see from a perspective different to the usual and is reminiscent of the "Battle of Chile" (one of the greatest documentaries ever made). The Paraguayan ex-president's problem goes to show how difficult it is to navigate in the tides of power. One must walk on water!2010 review:This very interesting film features interviews with heads of state from south of the U.S. border. In comparison to what people are fed from the mainstream U.S. media, it is contrary, and therefore perhaps unbelievable, to the U.S. public; except why would these heads of state all lie and misrepresent themselves. Why would Oliver Stone travel around Latin America (sometimes on the back of a motorcycle)to collect this information?Like other good films in its genre, it has not received the circulation it deserves.
A**S
A Documentary that should be seen not hidden away
This Oliver Stone documentary/film was shown once only in Australia, according to it's website, why? It was shown in Sydney at the Underground Film Festival in 2010. I saw Oliver Stone and co author Tariq Ali interviewed by Amy Goodman on her News Hour - democracynow.org - many months ago and have waited and waited and waited to see it. Here are living leaders who lead vast territories and peoples and yet we never here their voices, only the west's opinions of them, all bad of curse. Here we see why Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, Lula, the Kirchners, Fidel and Raul Castro and leaders of Peru and Equador are so popular among their peoples. Thank goodness for filmakers like Oliver Stone and authors like Tariq Ali who tell us the real stories, interviewing leaders who can speak themselves. Our media is so scared to tell the truth or too frightened to research the real stories because if they do speak out against their controlled environments they stand to lose their jobs. Thanks to amazon we can buy these DVDs even if film distributors dont have the guts to show them.
S**B
I've got toilet paper!!!
I give it 4 stars due to its honest coverage of the socialist movement in South America, but to that I say, "How's that working out for ya?" I find it curious how these leftist's love to show how wonderful socialism is for a time, however they don't show what eventually becomes of it. All I have to say to these commie lovers in Venezuela is, " I've got some extra toilet paper for you if you admit how bad socialism/communism is in the end". I'm looking forward to the sequel, but I won't hold my breath!
A**R
An informative documentary
Although somewhat dated now, Oliver Stone uses his considerable expertise as a director, to go to five countries in South America and interview their then (and current) Presidents. In doing so he tries to correct the mainstream media's misperceptions of South America, that have misinformed the US population (and the rest of us) for so long,
A**R
Excellent.
Excellent.
H**Y
Five Stars
Fine production by a great documentary and film maker.Thank you seller!
A**R
Five Stars
Worth a watch
R**N
It's about time!
Finally, we get to hear the truth that we cannot get from american corporation controlled network television broadcasts. Let people choose how they wish to live! Let them become more prosperous and autonomous then we will no longer need to keep sending costly foreign aid, they will be able to purchase our products and visa versa creating jobs and wealth for all. And who know's, maybee the need for taxpayer funded military force will vanish, allowing more money for education and healthcare.
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