"Libertador" is a gorgeous film....with sweeping battle scenes, lovely costumes and the look you'd expect from early 19th century South America. Clearly, he was among the most important figures of his century and it's good to see a film devoted to his legacy.
The film, however, suffers from some serious problems as well. The biggest one is that trying to encapsulate Simón Bolívar's life into two hours is really impossible to do and do well. At the very least, it merits a mini-series or perhaps several films. On top of that, the filmmakers oddly emphasized various female relationships he had...but by doing this, they really did a superficial job in discussing his military and political life. It was a decision that to me was baffling. Especially baffling was how the film glossed over the man's biggest flaw. While he was a revolutionary, he was also happy making himself a dictator...one who made 'president for life'.
Finally, there's a more serious problem, probably since it was a Venezuelan film, as the ending simply isn't true. The film reports that Bolívar was murdered by his enemies and these enemies lied...saying to the world that he died of tuberculosis. Well, it turns out this was the pet theory of then president for life Hugo Chavez....something he repeated on several occasions. However, after his body was disinterred and an autopsy was made, the results were that he did, indeed, died from tuberculosis. Now here is the crazy part of all this, and why I strongly suspect some of the motivations for the script being as it was....that Simón Bolívar actually died from tuberculosis was announced TWO YEARS BEFORE THIS FILM WAS RELEASED. This would mean the filmmakers lied....knowing how the man actually died. Why they lied, I don't want to guess...but they did lie. And, this is the main reason why although the film looks great, I really don't recommend it.
The film, however, suffers from some serious problems as well. The biggest one is that trying to encapsulate Simón Bolívar's life into two hours is really impossible to do and do well. At the very least, it merits a mini-series or perhaps several films. On top of that, the filmmakers oddly emphasized various female relationships he had...but by doing this, they really did a superficial job in discussing his military and political life. It was a decision that to me was baffling. Especially baffling was how the film glossed over the man's biggest flaw. While he was a revolutionary, he was also happy making himself a dictator...one who made 'president for life'.
Finally, there's a more serious problem, probably since it was a Venezuelan film, as the ending simply isn't true. The film reports that Bolívar was murdered by his enemies and these enemies lied...saying to the world that he died of tuberculosis. Well, it turns out this was the pet theory of then president for life Hugo Chavez....something he repeated on several occasions. However, after his body was disinterred and an autopsy was made, the results were that he did, indeed, died from tuberculosis. Now here is the crazy part of all this, and why I strongly suspect some of the motivations for the script being as it was....that Simón Bolívar actually died from tuberculosis was announced TWO YEARS BEFORE THIS FILM WAS RELEASED. This would mean the filmmakers lied....knowing how the man actually died. Why they lied, I don't want to guess...but they did lie. And, this is the main reason why although the film looks great, I really don't recommend it.