Salvador (Special Edition)
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Movie Reviews of Salvador (Special Edition)
Movie Review: The horror of Civil War
Summary: 5 Stars
Watching this film of how El Salvador was torn apart from 1980-1992 is something not only Salvadoreans remember, but many people from different countries. Showing that in this particular Civil War there was really no good or bad side. A conflict of misunderstanding. For my parents and many Salvadoreans that migrated here to the United States, definitely the true meaning of trying to find a better life.Movie Review: James Woods at his Best
Summary: 5 Stars
Absolutely amazing performances by both James Woods and co-star Jim Belushi. Viewing this movie 23 years after its original release was, for me, as riveting and enjoyable as the first time. I have seen and enjoyed most of his performances and still believe this to be his finest. If you are a fan of his, don't miss it! So real, excellent photography, wonderful script, believable actors.Movie Review: Loved it
Summary: 5 Stars
I think it is a good movie, unfortunately wasn't filmed in El Salvador and the accent and words that Salvadorans don't use are in the film, but I really liked the movie...Movie Review: A Chilling Reminder of the Barbarism Stalking Our Hearts
Summary: 4 Stars
Say what you will about Oliver Stone but one thing is certain: he knows how to bring out the best in his cast. Tom Cruise couldn't act his way out of a paper bag until BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY. Kevin Cosner dropped his ho-hum dead-panning and actually raised his voice in JFK--and Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Oldman gave the performances of their lives in that film. Stone made it known that Val Kilmer wasn't just another pretty face in THE DOORS. In SALVADOR, one of Stone's first films, he gave James Woods the chance to show his stuff--enough stuff to earn him an Oscar nomination.However, this is not an easy movie to watch, in spite of Woods' brilliant job. If you can ignore the Modern Marxist 101 rhetoric, you have at the heart of this film an original, unfaltering and chilling vision of humanity run amok and evil gloating at its own success. Stone proposes that our lives really aren't our own. They are threatened, not only by the caricatures he makes out of lip-pursing military/industrial/capitalists, but also by the cruelty and savagery he senses in every human being. In one particularly chilling scene, a group of nuns are raped and executed by goons who support the anti-Marxists of El Salvador. Yes, the goons were sent on this mission by higher-ups but they DIDN'T HAVE TO DO IT. On top of that, the absolute glee on their faces as they committed this barbaric act was nothing short of demonic sadism. It and several other scenes are awe-filled and disturbing.
What saves SALVADOR from being too dark to bear are the spurts of humor. Woods and James Belushi (yes, even James Belushi does a good job) play off each other beautifully; their comical quips and situations remind you of the other side of humanity: the fun-loving, friendship that doesn't get to come out and play too often. These scenes give audiences a chance to catch their collective breath after a scene of brutality, but then... BOOM... the violence is back, and it seems even more disturbing after the light flourishes of comedy. And the gloom seems twice as dark suddennly.
I imagine that this was a difficult movie to get made (I've been reading other reviewer's comments on this matter) and I can see why major movie studios in the feel-good 1980s would be unwilling to finance this film: it's too darn-gosh political; it takes place in a creepy foreign country that isn't romantic; there's no romance at all; and worst of all there's no pop music song that can be spun off into a music video and sold to MTV! They must've thought that Oliver Stone was out of his mind. But he wasn't. And it is to our benefit that he pressed on and got it done. This is a most important film.
Movie Review: CHARGED HUMAN DRAMA ABOUT THE "NOBILITY OF HUMAN SUFFERING"
Summary: 4 Stars
What a moving drama full of engaging characters -- sordid, but engaging! While some of the politics may be handled ham-handedly, Woods manages to introduce moments of comedy, a very human comedy, in a story that is wrought with despair. He plays a journalist whose days of glory have long begun to wane, and with his wife having left him, he is now at the end of his tether for that one good project to get him out of his corner. An article about the sordid goings-on in El Salvadore could very well be that project, so he heads out for there.
He is not alone though in his journey. Belushi provides much of the movie's comic relief and is a riot as the kvetching drug-and-booze soaked friend Dr. Rock, who unwittingly comes along for Woods' ride from San Francisco to El Salvador (he thinks they're going to Guatamala), and finds himself being brutalized by Salvadoran military, police, infected by the water (and the "professional" women), generally having a rough time of it.
The politically charged screenplay is somewhat clumsily delivered -- with the bumbling passion of a college radical a little too full of himself. The action speaks for itself, dead bodies everywhere, the American military hovering nearby constantly. And just in case we don't get it, the characters lecture us with familiar left vs. right themes, crow with indignation, and denounce the military characters, who are one-dimensional and disgusting. U.S. involvement is simplified far too much. As things stand, we have very little idea of what sort of El Salvadore culture was actually at stake, the movie does a lean job of providing a backdrop to all the mishap and political intrigue.
When that clarity does come about eventually, the movie leaves you with a great sense of energy, particularly from Woods' character. "Salvador", like JFK or Patton, remains one of my favorite high-octane human dramas of all time.
A proud DVD for anyone's collections, if only for the memorably pithy quotes, or the brilliant moments of photo journalism shown (it's not easy shooting mass riots, live) or quite simply the most inspired performance of Woods' career!