Word: somozaism
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LETS SAY YOU are a leader of the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. After four years of authoritarian rule following the overthrow of dictator Anastasio Somoza, you recognize that you are losing support among the left-leaning democracies and are wasting valuable resources funding an enormous fighting machine to oppose the U.S. backed counter-revolutionaries operating from Honduras. So you make some significant conciliatory gestures to your critics. For example, you ask more than 2000 Cuban civilians and military advisors to return home, you lift censorship controls on the press; you engage in dialogue with the opposition parties; you plan elections...
...LAFEBER'S analysis of post-Somoza Nicaragua, for example, is questionable. Like many liberal and left wing critics of current U.S. policy, LaFeber asserts that American over-reaction to Sandinista actually pushed Nicaragua into the arms of Cuba and the Soviets. A closer reality in the explanation given by former junta members that argues that Nicaraguan shift to the left was the result of the Marxist inspired Sandinistas emerging from an anti-Somoza coalition as the predominant political power. One fact LaFeber doesn't cite is that only eight months after rebels poured into Managua...
...execution of it) Price will have an effect on the outcome of the struggle. Not to give too much away, but what if those pictures Price was taking casually one day in a Sandinista stronghold got into the hands of government sympathizers? What if they were used to help Somoza's death squads track down his opponents? And what if someone you thought was just a passing friend turned our to be the one who stole your prints? This is not a principal part of the plot, but these questions do illustrate the sort of dilemma faced by price...
...avenue for this success is three journalist friends who travel down to Nicaragua as the Sandinista drive to oust Somoza in 1979 is gaining momentum. There is, to be sure, a certain degree of caricature on the surface. The portrayal of the reporters--Nick Nolte, Joanna Cassidy and Gene Hackman--does little to break the stereotype of the foreign correspondent, as we get a vicarious glimpse into the (improbable) world of tough-talking, globe-trotting journalists...
...framing the question in terms of ethical choices faced by normal people, the filmmakers avoid a lot of heavy-handed posturing. It helps that the cinematography graphically recounts the bloody street fighting of the last days of Somoza. The Sandinistas come off as every bit the under dogs they were. A good deal of camera time is spent on detailing the excesses of somoza's soldiers. This helps, too, in bringing the viewer over to the right side. But what finally brings us squarely behind the Sandinistas is the reality of the situation. Moral choices are limited and the correct...