Hugo Chavez is by all means an interesting figure in today's politics. As a matter of fact, I began to like his shameless "in your face" attitude, mostly uncommon in today's decadent global relations, and his quite magnetic charisma. You will notice Chavez whether You like him or not. Anyhow, after seeing "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" which thrilled me, and the previous Stone's documentary dealing with South American issues "Comandante", indeed I expected "South Of The Border" to be an exciting yet profound content. It wasn't really.
I did like the documentary, no doubt about that, still, it lacks depth and structural analysis of something that presents much more than a certain politician's biography and the surrounding he's creating. Stone obviously had intended to criticize the American capitalist system of global domination, and show Chavez together with other Latin American leaders as an alternative. Yes, the critic is quite direct, although a feeling remains that the whole concept is made to be superficial, in order to bring the film to a wider public with lower cognitive capacities. I know, it's all about profit, but still, a documentary is supposed to be about the essence, is it not? The whole story line and the narration make the story predictable, it sounds partial, whereas way too much material was taken from "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". Sometimes it seems Stone had made nothing more than a paraphrase of things already shown and told. The biggest disappointment though is the end, with the classic Obama cliché and the "New yadiyadada Hope" story which by now makes me wanna take a bucket and throw it all out.
In short, I did like "South Of The Border", yet the expectations were much bigger though. Sorry Oliver, you could have done a far better job.
I did like the documentary, no doubt about that, still, it lacks depth and structural analysis of something that presents much more than a certain politician's biography and the surrounding he's creating. Stone obviously had intended to criticize the American capitalist system of global domination, and show Chavez together with other Latin American leaders as an alternative. Yes, the critic is quite direct, although a feeling remains that the whole concept is made to be superficial, in order to bring the film to a wider public with lower cognitive capacities. I know, it's all about profit, but still, a documentary is supposed to be about the essence, is it not? The whole story line and the narration make the story predictable, it sounds partial, whereas way too much material was taken from "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". Sometimes it seems Stone had made nothing more than a paraphrase of things already shown and told. The biggest disappointment though is the end, with the classic Obama cliché and the "New yadiyadada Hope" story which by now makes me wanna take a bucket and throw it all out.
In short, I did like "South Of The Border", yet the expectations were much bigger though. Sorry Oliver, you could have done a far better job.