Dark Days In Central America

Anyone who has seen an Oliver Stone picture in the last two decades, has a fairly rough idea of this man's image and style. Raw, gritty, and uncompromisingly clear in his portrayal of human suffering, Stone is to many a film god. What's surprising is the fact that most people, those being supposed Oliver Stone fans, have never heard of nor seen this film. Even more shocking is the fact that, in my opinion, this has to be his best and most effectual film ever. Welcome to the dirty world that is "Salvador".

One of the main problems with the marketing of "Salvador" was the fact that it was made a year prior to Stone's Vietnam epic, "Platoon", and is in many ways overshadowed by this Best Picture winner. Released the same year as "Platoon", it's a shame that Oliver had to bunch two grand, sweeping epics side by side. It's a shame, because even though "Platoon" is very deserving of accolades and merit, one has to wonder whether "Salvador" would have garnered the same type of accolades had it been released a year earlier or later. Even though "Salvador" did receive various Academy Award nominations, it's evident that "Platoon" was a much more relevant film at the time and thus, gathered more of the public spotlight and praise.

The film is set in the political meat-grinder of El Salvador during the early 1980's, as the country began to crack under the strain of dictatorial upheaval. Richard Boyle, played by James Woods, is an AP photojournalist who has traveled to El Salvador to cover the strife and regain his professional credibility. Broke, without a valid press pass, and looking for a career jump-start, Boyle drives to El Salvador with his close friend Doctor Rock, to reconcile his career and escape the pressures of life at home. Rock, played by James Belushi, has bailed Boyle out of jail for his various driving infringements and is also on the lamb from his crumbling social scene. The obvious journalistic parallels between this film and Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas" cannot go unnoticed. They're without true credentials, heavily intoxicated, and carrying a varitable arsenal of illicit drugs. However, once Boyle and Rock cross the Guatemalan border into El Salvador, that is where the parallels end. Boyle is very much a gonzo journalist, but with very different intentions and moral aspirations than anything Thompson ever attempted.

Approaching a supposed traffic accident, Rock, who is a newcomer to the Central American climate, gets his first taste of how different this area of the world is. The two are stopped and questioned, whereupon the troops lining the road apprehend the pair as periodistas (journalists) and take them into custody. As soon as Boyle and Rock are gathered in by the Salvadorian Guard, the mood of this film shifts. Up until this time, the movie has a very free spirited, almost fun quality to it. This is by far the best transition that Stone has ever captured and should be noted for this seminal work of cinematic brilliance.

Held under scrutinous guard, the two men are brought to the small town of Santa Ana, where they see for the first time, the attrocities perpetrated by the Salvadorian nationalists. Without a sedula (birth-certificate), citizens are accused, tried, and executed as communist sympathizers. There's no court date or process of litigation. Anyone who is unable to show a sedula on the spot, is condemned to death as a red traitor. Boyle, along with Rock, get a bird's eye view of this carnage and from this point in the film, the audience is indeed shell-shocked into the realization that this film isn't going to pull any punches.

From here, the film spirals into a twister of political deceit, journalistic hypocrisy, and frightening war-torn realism. Boyle is torn between finding an associated press job and, in turn, doing that job, as well as smuggling his Salvadorian girlfriend and her children across the border. Stone's focus on the various conflicts that journalists must face in trying to report in any civil war climate is awe inspiring. On one hand, Boyle must appease the Salvadorian Army into thinking that he is reporting for them by taking photos of hidden Sandanista rebels in the mountains of central Salvador. On the other, he must appease these same rebels into thinking that he is reporting for their cause, to inform the American public and shift popular opinion. It's a delicate dance between getting the story and not getting killed in the process by either side.

The Mano Blanco, or White Hand, is a democratic fundamentalist group that is hell bent on destroying communist influence by any means necessary. Boyle's major adversary in this story is Major Max, played by Tony Plana. Max is the democratic presidential candidate looking to wipe out the peasant uprising by forming these various Death Squads. The main thing to remember about this type of militaristic oligarchy is the fact that even though they commit these atrocities in the name of nationalism and democracy, they are just another guised form of dictatorship and repugnant anti-communist extremism.

More shocking is the fact that our government, at the time, was backing this evil animal under the pretense that they were somehow righteous in their fight against supposed communist oppression. What it comes down to is a vain witch hunt to stir up anti-communist sentiment, at a time when the Cold War was still very much on the boil. The truth is, there was no real communist aggression in El Salvador. The U.S. government lied to both the Salvadorian people, and their own citizens, by contriving a situation and then making us believe that our involvement was somehow a justified means of stopping communist progression in the region. An estimated 50,000 people were killed in the name of democratic freedom, most of which consisted of women and children.

The most important thing to remember when watching this film, is that even though certain names are changed and situations fictional, the majority of people and events that are portrayed in this film actually took place. Wood's character is in fact based on the real Richard Boyle, a photojournalist who covered the early Salvadorian uprising. Boyle's career included the covering of Cambodia's tragic Pol Pot massacres, as well as various reporting in Vietnam. Stone met Boyle in the early 80's as he ate lunch with another person that Oliver would chronicle, Ron Kovic. Boyle had written a series of stories about El Salvador and was looking to have them published. He gave Stone a copy that led the two to eventually pound out a manuscript in an unbelievable three week span.

If you want to talk about gonzo film-making, the original set-up for this film is even more bizarre. Boyle, with the aid of Stone and various financial backers, instigated an initial shooting schedule in El Salvador with the help of the Salvadorian government. It was done with a false script, in spanish, that had the Salvadorians thinking the film made them out to be the good guys. Boyle then wrote another false script for the rebels, to have them believe that they were, in fact, the good guys. What foiled the plan was a third urban militant rebel group that did not care to become involved in the film-making process. During the logistical set-up for this picture, the Salvadorian advisor for the film was brutally shot and killed by this Urban faction during a friendly doubles tennis match, months before the filming was to begin. This enraged Stone and his backers, as they were forced to eventually pull up stakes and move the location of the film to Mexico, at the insistence of Woods and others.

Only after moving the location of the shooting, did the casting of this film finalize and filming commence. And what a cast! Woods himself, credits this film as his most difficult and rewarding. He gives Richard Boyle an edgy, malicious overtone, with hints of morality and true journalistic integrity. James Belushi's interpretation of Dr. Rock is also an amazing piece of acting. Belushi has been mired in a career of over-exubrant, B-grade films. However, if there is one film to justify his entire life as a film actor, his work in "Salvador" is certainly that film. He does a magnificent job of showing how one's physical surroundings can deteriorate the mental state of a human being over time. Rock is thrust into El Salvador as a happy-go-lucky wanderer, with misguided angst and naivete. As the story develops, Rock first becomes enraged, then apathetic, while eventually succumbing to the environment and adapting to his place in this villainous world of hatred and animosity.

Other actors of outstanding worth include John Savage, who plays Boyle's friend John Cassady, a Newsweek photographer. Cassady is a serious professional, who aspires to photogenic immortality by searching for that perfect shot that both captures the moment and the reasoning behind it. Cassady and Boyle take part in Dawn Patrols to photograph and count the bodies of various Death Squad massacres. Savage does an emphatic job of giving Cassady a clear cut neutrality in his reporting and every scene he's in, has a certain plausable realism that is uncanny.

Michael Murphy does a fine job of portraying Ambassador Tom Kelly with warmth and understanding, and Valerie Wildman makes a smart and cunning Pauline Axelrod, a network television reporter. Axelrod's appearance in the film represents the mainstream media coverage of any given situation. Her character is satirically poked at for not having the gumption or where-with-all to actually do any real investigating. She reports from the sanctified grounds of Hotel rooftops, showing us that what we see each night on television, isn't exactly journalism (not as if that has to be stated).

Next, we come to the cinematography of this picture. Robert Richardson does an exquisite job of giving this film an eerie, translucent quality that hides no sense of falsehood or unmittigated blandness. With much of the film shot on unsteady, shoulder strapped cameras, this film really is a defining piece of what is now known as the docu-drama sub-genre. If there is a film that personifies this type of film-making, then "Salvador" is that film. So much of this film is done in such a way as to have you forget that this is actually a movie and not real footage. Be forewarned, the nature and depiction of various scenes are very graphic and can be somewhat disturbing. In particular, a multiple rape and murder scene is extremely raw, shot in natural light, giving you a haunting look at what is most often not caught by other film-makers.

The editing of this film, by Claire Simpson, is wonderfully done, though there are certain scenes deleted that I feel should have been left in. Nonetheless, she does an admirable job of giving this film, yet again, that frightening realism and unbiased glaze. The musical score of Georges Delerue is another gem of accompaniment, that hallmarks later Oliver Stone work. Triumphant and somber, Delerue captures the feeling of this film with massive movements and simple, two piece duels.

Lastly, I'd like to talk about what this film means to me. More than anything else, "Salvador" is a looking glass model of modern journalism, or lack thereof, as well as a view into the minds of Reagan foreign policy administrators. For one thing, it's not often shown how much risk and inherent danger, reporting does indeed hold. If you're looking for something that shows this type of work, without any of the stereotypical Hollywood formula applied, then please have a look at this film.

It also gives a fascinating glimpse of what our government tried to inflict on the hapless people of El Salvador. The U.S. Ambassador, Tom Kelly, is based on real life Ambassador at the time, Robert White. All through, the CIA was secretly funding the Mano Blanco, supplying them with guns and financing their actions, while at the same time undermining our own ambassador's influence in the region. These acts are appauling in their stark, untainted view of our own contradictory philosophies and show how true patriotism is disregarded as whining, communist sympathy. Don't make apologies for your views on this film. Wherever you stand in relation, the fact that this film has the cajones to show such an honest depiction, make this film more worthwhile and extraordinary than anything Stone has ever created. So take your "Natural Born Killers", your "JFK", and even "Platoon", and roll them up into one. Once you've done that, you still won't have the quality and class that this film did, in fact, achieve.

(Sidenote: This piece concludes the first trilogy, in a series of reviews I'll be doing over the summer involving "Under-rated Masterpieces". I hope to pick up and do the second trilogy later on in July, but for the time being, I'll be refocusing on more current and relevant material. In truth, these last three reviews have sapped my creative flair and started to diminish my appetite for writing. Not to worry. For those of you who have been reading these modest attempts, I will no doubt be returning to more herculian endeavors over the next weeks. After all, I still have that belated "Tomb Raider" review to do. Thanks again for reading.)