SOUTH OF THE BORDER, Oliver Stone 2009

Image of South American leaders inverted

A political documentary directed by Oliver Stone trying to invert the image the American mainstream media gives of South American leaders such as Hugo Chavez or Evo Morales: dictators constantly disrespecting human rights.
Instead he is showing them as human beings who want to reach mainly one goal: the independence of their countries and their continent of Imperial influences in combination with creating an strong own economy to raise the life standards of their populations, especially those of the poor.

Stone was obviously sick of the double moral of the Bush administration and the one-sided public opinion installed by big American media companies, but what he is doing, is one-sided as well. The film is cutting together hundreds of archival shots with his personal interviews and an off screen commentary. I am not sure weather I like that approach, but it was interesting to hear the established (hi)story turned around on it´s back and to see all those presidents in an intimate way, most of them in a good mood and seemingly down to earth.