Oliver Stone's "South of the Border" Coming to DVD

[Montag]

Oliver Stone's "South of the Border" Coming to DVD
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5734

Oliver Stone’s insightful new documentary will introduce North American viewers to the Presidents of Latin America and their leftist revolution when it becomes available on DVD and Blu-ray on October 26, 2010 with over ninety minutes of special features, including a 2010 interview with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

The film chronicles Stone’s travels to South America in the winter of 2009 and tells the story of the rise to power of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and other South American presidents responsible for sweeping changes in the region. The film features intimate conversations with Chávez, Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and ex-President Néstor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Raúl Castro (Cuba).

After premiering at the 2009 Venice Film Festival, the film was officially selected to AFI Silverdocs before playing in U.S. theatres nationwide. In May 2010, Stone returned to Latin America for its international theatrical campaign, during which he shared the film in a series of premiere events in South America attended by the presidents of Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. The film has been a lightning rod for criticism by right-wing media and anti-Chávez factions, yet has received substantive praise. Matthew Garrahan of the Financial Times, who visited South America with Stone, called it, “an interesting and revealing film that challenges conventional thinking about Chávez and South America.” Andrew O’Hehir in Salon.com referred to the film as, “a valuable and interesting corrective to the mainstream media’s often-atrocious coverage of Latin America, and a fascinating account of the rise of a new generation of political leaders.”

Synopsis:

There’s a revolution underway in South America, but most of the world doesn’t know it. Academy Award® winning director, 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 misperceptions 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.

[Montag]

I've seen the documentary now... I enjoyed it. I think Stone is frankly not as good as Moore at these kinds of things (I'm sure if Moore did a drama it would pale in comparison to Stone). It's probably better for people who are not that familiar with what's going on in Latin America -- than those who follow it closely. I follow the situation fairly closely I think, and I did still like it, though.

So it's not essential viewing for those well versed on Latin America, better for those newer to the material. Actually I keep saying Latin America... I'd say it starts off (probably first 45-50 minutes on Venezuela), and then concludes kind of doing a thumbnail on struggles in a handful of other countries.

[Jeff]

Thanks Montag, I want to see it. It had a single screening last night in Toronto, but I couldn't make it, so it has to be the DVD. (So many good films with such shitty distribution.)

[Montag]

I always planned to see it on DVD. There is one theater in my area that has these kinds of films from time to time, but I didn't check into it.

p.s. Of course, there's always the free on the Internet approach, haha. It's probably out there somewhere, but I didn't check into that either.

[chump]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI446mXo ... r_embedded

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/2 ... view=print

Bush: War Boosts the U.S. Economy
First Posted: 05-28-10 12:56 PM | Updated: 05-28-10 01:21 PM


President George W. Bush argued in 2004 that the best way to grow the U.S. economy was by waging war, according to former Argentine Prime Minister Néstor Kirchner.

Kirchner, in a meeting with Bush, suggested that the United States replicate the successful nation-building strategy it implemented at the end of World War II.

"And he stood up from his chair and got angry. He told me, 'A Marshall plan! No! That's a crazy idea from the Democrats. What needs to be done here, and the best way to revitalize the economy is -- the United States has grown based on wars,' he told me. That's what he told me," Kirchner recounted.

Bush added, said Kirchner, that "all the economic growth that the U.S. had had, had been based on the different wars it had waged."

The former Argentine leader, whose wife now heads the country, made the comments in an interview with Oliver Stone for his upcoming documentary "South Of the Border."

The film is co-written by Tariq Ali, a British intellectual, and Mark Weisbrot of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Economic and Policy Research. The film opens in theaters June 25th.

Kirchner held a 50-minute meeting in Monterrey, Mexico with Bush in January, 2004.

The charge startled even Oliver Stone. "War? He said that?" Stone asked Kirchner, who was among a wave of progressive leaders elected in Latin America over the last decade.

"He said that, word for word," Kirchner assured Stone.

Stone followed up: "Is he suggesting that Latin America should go to war?"

No, said Kirchner. "Well, he was talking about the United States, never said South America. That the United States -- that it was a misunderstanding of the Democrats, that all the economic growth that the U.S. had had, had been based on the different wars it had waged."

The Kirchner interview is done through a translator and the subtitles on the screen don't exactly match what Kirchner was saying, but more closely reflect how his comments were being translated at the time. The Huffington Post had three separate native Spanish speakers translate Kirchner's remarks. His comments above are the result of those translations.

If Kirchner is accurately relaying the comments, that would make Bush the highest-ranking public official to state outright that war is and has been good for the American economy.