*Date approximate*
23. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Also known as “Chavez: Inside the Coup”, which is not near as catchy a name if you ask me. There’s no picture or Amazon link because it’s not currently available commercially, which is a shame.
The filmakers had been shooting a documentary about Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, for months when they found themselves in the middle of a coup. The film shows the takeover of the media and ensuing disinformation next to shots of what was really going on in the streets. Most disturbing, it shows how quick the US was to try and legitimize the coup and thus be rid of Chavez. About Chavez…
Chavez is all “power to the people”, going so far as to make one of his first acts a mass printing of the country’s constitution, along with a literacy campaign to teach the illiterate poor to read it so they can know what their rights are. The nationalized petroleum industry had been plundered for years by the elite before he moved to use the money for social programs. Things like this make the liberal in me swoon like a schoolgirl in love, but I had to remind myself (ok, really it was The Lovely Wife who had to remind me) that rhetoric, especially rhetoric you really want to believe in, should always be viewed with a critical eye, and this movie does seem to be pretty one-sided in it’s praise.
Watch the film, if you can find it, then do some research on your own. If it doesn’t necessarily make you a Chavez supporter, it’ll at least make you view our own administration a little more critically.