One of the last lines in Salvador is delivered by James Woods screaming, “ YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING IN EL SALVADOR!”  In nine convicted words, Oliver’s Stone’s purpose is emphasized with exclamation. Salvador reveals America’s involvement in a civil war that wasn’t there’s to fight. Sound familiar? In El Salvador, the complex dispute involved left-wing rebels fighting for social-rights and the right-wing military who viewed protests as an act of communism. In the 1980s, the U.S. Reagan administration provided aid to the military, but blatantly ignored the army’s corruption and murder of innocent, unarmed, mostly peasant men, women and children. Nearly 75,000 people died as a result of this ignorance. The film follows Richard Boyle (James Woods), a wild, gonzo-like photojournalist who arrogantly decides to pursue the story El Salvador to gain credibility. At this point, he has no emotional tie to the war and really is just looking to get good pictures. After his friend, Doctor Rock (Jim Belushi), bails him out of jail, Boyle cons him into a road trip to El Salvador in what he describes as a utopia, yuppie-free world of easy women and drugs.  The back and forth between Woods and Belushi, who is terrified at the idea, is quite entertaining, but the comic relief is silenced early in the film by an encounter with Salvadorian militia. The whole tone of the film changes from light to serious and Boyle’s experience as a war journalist turns on as he says to his friend, “whatever you do, don’t lie on the ground.” From here, the real story begins. What Stone does right here is that he doesn’t compromise the story with political correctness or a Hollywood spin. He plays it very straight - no fancy camera work - just flat two-shots, close-ups and wide-angle shots. We often read or hear about horrible tragedies overseas, but the reality is even more devastating when experienced visually. Stone shares horrific events that happened during the war including El Playon, a dirt mountain covered with mutilated bodies; the death squad assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero; and the brutal rape and murder of four American missionaries shot point blank and left in a ditch - all very hard scenes to watch, but even harder scenes to let go. The acting in this film, particularly by Woods and Belushi was superb. In the beginning Woods’ character has purely selfish motivations, but like all good protagonists, he transforms as his natural instinct to “do something” kicks in.  In the end, however, he’s still a sleazy guy, but you respect him knowing he too is outraged by the situation. The performance won Woods an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1986 - the same year as Platoon. When Salvador was release in 1986, the majority of Americans, with the exception of the U.S. government, were unaware of the daily brutality occurring just south of the border. This movie, although a fictionalization of events, brought the story to Hollywood, educating, what some believe, more people than any media report or television documentary to date. As captivating as the film itself, are the behind-the-scenes stories on the actual making of the film are told in Into the Valley of Death a documentary available as an extra feature on the special edition DVD. Apparently it was a nightmare of a shoot -the film’s technical advisor was murdered in El Salvador, there was major tension on the set between Stone, Woods and Belushi, and Woods nearly died – just before a crucial scene he discovered a blank in a gun that would have killed him had the trigger been pulled. If you haven’t seen this film, put it on your list.
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One of the last lines in Salvador is delivered by James Woods screaming, “ YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING IN EL SALVADOR!”  In nine convicted words, Oliver’s Stone’s purpose is emphasized with exclamation.

Salvador reveals America’s involvement in a civil war that wasn’t there’s to fight. Sound familiar? In El Salvador, the complex dispute involved left-wing rebels fighting for social-rights and the right-wing military who viewed protests as an act of communism. In the 1980s, the U.S. Reagan administration provided aid to the military, but blatantly ignored the army’s corruption and murder of innocent, unarmed, mostly peasant men, women and children. Nearly 75,000 people died as a result of this ignorance.

The film follows Richard Boyle (James Woods), a wild, gonzo-like photojournalist who arrogantly decides to pursue the story El Salvador to gain credibility. At this point, he has no emotional tie to the war and really is just looking to get good pictures. After his friend, Doctor Rock (Jim Belushi), bails him out of jail, Boyle cons him into a road trip to El Salvador in what he describes as a utopia, yuppie-free world of easy women and drugs.  The back and forth between Woods and Belushi, who is terrified at the idea, is quite entertaining, but the comic relief is silenced early in the film by an encounter with Salvadorian militia. The whole tone of the film changes from light to serious and Boyle’s experience as a war journalist turns on as he says to his friend, “whatever you do, don’t lie on the ground.” From here, the real story begins.

What Stone does right here is that he doesn’t compromise the story with political correctness or a Hollywood spin. He plays it very straight - no fancy camera work - just flat two-shots, close-ups and wide-angle shots. We often read or hear about horrible tragedies overseas, but the reality is even more devastating when experienced visually. Stone shares horrific events that happened during the war including El Playon, a dirt mountain covered with mutilated bodies; the death squad assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero; and the brutal rape and murder of four American missionaries shot point blank and left in a ditch - all very hard scenes to watch, but even harder scenes to let go.

The acting in this film, particularly by Woods and Belushi was superb. In the beginning Woods’ character has purely selfish motivations, but like all good protagonists, he transforms as his natural instinct to “do something” kicks in.  In the end, however, he’s still a sleazy guy, but you respect him knowing he too is outraged by the situation. The performance won Woods an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1986 - the same year as Platoon.

When Salvador was release in 1986, the majority of Americans, with the exception of the U.S. government, were unaware of the daily brutality occurring just south of the border. This movie, although a fictionalization of events, brought the story to Hollywood, educating, what some believe, more people than any media report or television documentary to date.

As captivating as the film itself, are the behind-the-scenes stories on the actual making of the film are told in Into the Valley of Death a documentary available as an extra feature on the special edition DVD. Apparently it was a nightmare of a shoot -the film’s technical advisor was murdered in El Salvador, there was major tension on the set between Stone, Woods and Belushi, and Woods nearly died – just before a crucial scene he discovered a blank in a gun that would have killed him had the trigger been pulled.

If you haven’t seen this film, put it on your list.

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