South of the Border

Description

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