SOUTH OF THE BORDER by Oliver Stone

In the UK at any rate there was a disingenuous misleading perception to this documentary about Oliver Stone being a well meaning though politically naive who is put right by a mature Tariq Ali script.In actual script , if you pardon the pun , Oliver Stone is a highly skilled film-maker who knows his constituency and how to stimulate them to just the right degree.The purpose of this film is to present to an American audience ( the starting point for an American and European audience is quite different because of the overt partisanship of the mainstream corporate US media as opposed to the slightly less overt coverage we have in Europe).Understanding these two starting points is important before levelling the lazy charge of lack of political depth to the documentary.Oliver Stone has a task of presenting a Human face and casual playfull side to demonised leaders to the American audience , to show the US viewers these maligned "enemies" are leaders that look and think like the People they represent , in all cases democratically elected.

Oliver explains the underlying reasoning in the interview below:



The documentary succeeds in presenting the shades of Human experience in todays South American leadership from the indigenous leaders of Venezuela and Boliva ; the realist elite in Argentina and the liberation theologists and trade unionist leaders in Ecuador and Paraguay ,and a non-interfering tolerating leader from Brazils trade union and business partnership , a cross section of leaders trying to extricate the region from the Monroe doctrine , but hardly left pin-up boys as is the equally one dimensional perspective of the European Left , a true Bolivarian cross section of genuine mass movement leaders not allied to any constriction brand of exported European thoughts but coming up with regional solution to local concerns.


Check-out this video at the 1m35sec mark about the economic advice Bush gave to Argentinian president Kirchner.



As an excellent companion piece to the documentary itself is this episode of Democracy Now , a four-part piece which acts as a informative,detailed appendix to the documentary itself which shows Oliver Stone , as well as Tariq Ali , looking in-depth into the background issues to the superficial themes of the documentary itself.

What stands out is just how perceptive and sophisticated Oliver Stones understanding is.



One major question is just how established and long lasting this process will be when the US tries to , as it inevitably will , re-strengthen the Monroe Doctrine.The major reason these South American leaders have defied the US is that America has had a decade long commitment of nearly 200,000 troops in far away continents.In the next few years the troops will come back and if you have read the telling observations of Eduardo Galeano on "The Open Veins of South America" are to be relied upon then it normally taken only from 11 months to just under 3 years for normal service to be resumed.