¿¡Revolución!?

Does Chavez pass the revolutionary test?

Charles Gervais / Canada / 2007 / 85 min / Spanish with English s.t.

Revolutions have captivated our imagination for hundreds of years; heroes and legends are born, millions of lives are changed. Explore the very nature of revolution through the living example of Hugo Chavez and the people of Venezuela.

¿¡Revolución!? is a candid and well-balanced look at Chavez in Venezuela. Unlike so many other films and Western media, ¿¡Revolución!? refuses to uncritically analyze Chavez and his policies, but also does not vilify the leader.

LONG SYNOPSIS from Wikipedia:

The film is narrated by a fictional Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote. As his voice guides the documentary, animations of his famous character illustrate his discourse. The narrator observes that history has seen time and again revolutions set against a high pressure of injustice on the people that see their achievement through violence, from the French and American Revolutions to the Cuban, Bolshevik and Latin American decolonization experiences. But, as he remarks that violent revolution leads to the victory of the most powerful, not necessarily the most legitimate, the narrator asks: what if there were a series of guidelines for a democratic and peaceful revolution? The film is thus structured around that main question as it examines the extent to which these guidelines have been put in practice by Hugo Chávez.

It opens on the distribution of those free copies of Don Quixote, and also travels through the history of Chávez' failed 1992 coup d'état and subsequent conversion to electoral means. In the present, it also shows the medical and agricultural initiatives of Chávez, as well as the 2005 legislative elections and the electoral boycott attempt by the opposition.

The movie features pro-Chávez and anti-Chávez militants, politicians and citizens, within and without the barrios (the poor districts of Venezualan cities like Caracas). The anti-Chávez politicians interviewed are members of Primero Justicia. It also examines the nationalization of petroleum. Other Chávez opponents met by the filmmaker come from places like the newspaper El Nacional and the former direction of the petroleum industry. The director did not obtain an interview with the President, but filmed him first hand in speeches and his famous weekly Aló Presidente television show. About the situation of the freedom of the press, director Gervais said that it was easier to film in the Venezuela of Chávez than in Canada.[1]

The film is in major part a positive account of the "Bolivarian Revolution". The question marks in the title however denote the author's interrogation about how the affair could get out of control, drawing from guerrillero supporters ready for violence and the appearance of Chávez' desire to hang unto power. The film ends on the quote from Don Quixote: "Do not let personal passion blind you in another's case".

Trailer

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