This is a documentary about human spirit that should not be missed by Americans who want to know the implications of where their tax dollars go. The love and caring shown by an oppressed people, fighting tooth-and-nail in the worst of situations is astounding. A very powerful film.
3 Reviews
Maria is real as are the atrocities
riderofadventure31 March 2007
I recently met Maria and visited many of the sites where civilians were murdered. The movie is not propaganda. The FMLN was made up of 5 parties, one of which was communist. One out of five. I do not believe in communism. Capitalism isn't perfect but it works. That's why we have the lives that we do in the US. But I do not believe in supporting governments who feel it is okay to exterminate those who do not support their views. Many of the "fighters" in the FMLN were poor civilians who had been suppressed and seen as dispensable by the government. If that wasn't enough, they also murdered nuns, priests, and a bishop. We're the United States of America. The most powerful country in the world and we're afraid of a communist take over? Again, only 1 out of the 5 parties was communist but some how that justified supporting a government with disregard for human rights. Sadly, most of the folks in the US will never leave its soil to see what it really is like in a 3rd world country. Till you have, you have no idea what it's like.
Shameless Leftist Propaganda
jr-565-2636628 September 2015
Warning: Spoilers
This documentary was a shameless and dishonest attempt to demonize American support for the Government of El Salvador in their fight against a communist insurgency through the eyes of a woman guerrilla fighter. Believe me when I say that despite what another reviewer states as well as what the media at that time portrayed, this was a communist led attempt to topple the government and enslave the people.
The clueless female American producers of this documentary attempt to portray Maria and her comrades as hardened peasant insurgents fighting social injustice, but their actions give them away as amateur play actors.
A perfect example comes when the group is filmed gathered around a camp fire on a hilltop at night. In the audio, you can hear in the distance the sounds of Salvadorian Army 4.2 inch mortar rounds leaving the tubes. When one of the American producers ask Maria what the sounds are, she smugly dismisses them as, "just the government". Moments later a large flash and explosion is heard and the camera goes dark. The next thing you see is the group running for their lives in the dark with the female producers sobbing in fear. Evidently, Maria and comrades were observed by the "government" who called in the mortar shoot. Brilliant! The only thing missing from the scene was that they weren't roasting marshmallows for the camera!
One other interesting scene involved film footage of Salvadorian Air Force Huey helicopters operating in a valley. It was interesting to see the government forces in operation from the enemy's perspective.
For a woman supposedly a survivor of the massacre of her village and traumatized by the event, she did not come off sincere when she describes a river full of dead bodies. Her attitude, emotions and expressions do not add up. And other than the two scenes involving Government forces, you really don't see her group do much of any fighting or contact with the government but just wondering around the countryside.
I can tell you from personal experience that the only female guerrilla fighters in that war were camp followers - women and younger kids who followed the guerrilla columns to feed, support and provide first aid to the mostly male oriented movement. That is evident by the weapons they carried which were mostly American made M16s. Maria claims they took them from dead government soldiers. The reality is that the weapons were provided by their Vietnamese socialist friends from stocks we left behind when we evacuated South Vietnam in 1975. These hand-me-down weapons were issued to the supporting, non-combatant insurgents. The real insurgents were armed with the latest Soviet and East Bloc weapons supplied through the Sandinistas or Cuba.
By the end of the war the guerrilla columns were mostly made up of 14-15-16 year olds forced from their villages to face an increasingly effective, US trained Salvadorian Army. That was because the older, more experienced men were killed off or were smart enough to avoid the fighting. The war degenerated to the killing of child soldiers who were fighting on both sides.
You will find me making no excuses for the government. Their brutality and injustice is what caused this war to begin with. However, there were plenty of atrocities and war crimes committed by BOTH sides. But you do not force your communistic will on poor people at the point of an AK which is what the FMLN attempted to do, and what this documentary tries to justify.
We stopped them cold, and made them agree to a negotiated settlement of the war. Today, the FMLN's political party rules El Salvador having won elections fair and square. But they maintain a close and strong relationship with the United States and remain reliable allies.
The clueless female American producers of this documentary attempt to portray Maria and her comrades as hardened peasant insurgents fighting social injustice, but their actions give them away as amateur play actors.
A perfect example comes when the group is filmed gathered around a camp fire on a hilltop at night. In the audio, you can hear in the distance the sounds of Salvadorian Army 4.2 inch mortar rounds leaving the tubes. When one of the American producers ask Maria what the sounds are, she smugly dismisses them as, "just the government". Moments later a large flash and explosion is heard and the camera goes dark. The next thing you see is the group running for their lives in the dark with the female producers sobbing in fear. Evidently, Maria and comrades were observed by the "government" who called in the mortar shoot. Brilliant! The only thing missing from the scene was that they weren't roasting marshmallows for the camera!
One other interesting scene involved film footage of Salvadorian Air Force Huey helicopters operating in a valley. It was interesting to see the government forces in operation from the enemy's perspective.
For a woman supposedly a survivor of the massacre of her village and traumatized by the event, she did not come off sincere when she describes a river full of dead bodies. Her attitude, emotions and expressions do not add up. And other than the two scenes involving Government forces, you really don't see her group do much of any fighting or contact with the government but just wondering around the countryside.
I can tell you from personal experience that the only female guerrilla fighters in that war were camp followers - women and younger kids who followed the guerrilla columns to feed, support and provide first aid to the mostly male oriented movement. That is evident by the weapons they carried which were mostly American made M16s. Maria claims they took them from dead government soldiers. The reality is that the weapons were provided by their Vietnamese socialist friends from stocks we left behind when we evacuated South Vietnam in 1975. These hand-me-down weapons were issued to the supporting, non-combatant insurgents. The real insurgents were armed with the latest Soviet and East Bloc weapons supplied through the Sandinistas or Cuba.
By the end of the war the guerrilla columns were mostly made up of 14-15-16 year olds forced from their villages to face an increasingly effective, US trained Salvadorian Army. That was because the older, more experienced men were killed off or were smart enough to avoid the fighting. The war degenerated to the killing of child soldiers who were fighting on both sides.
You will find me making no excuses for the government. Their brutality and injustice is what caused this war to begin with. However, there were plenty of atrocities and war crimes committed by BOTH sides. But you do not force your communistic will on poor people at the point of an AK which is what the FMLN attempted to do, and what this documentary tries to justify.
We stopped them cold, and made them agree to a negotiated settlement of the war. Today, the FMLN's political party rules El Salvador having won elections fair and square. But they maintain a close and strong relationship with the United States and remain reliable allies.
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