Controversy?
Was there any controversy at the time because the movie was so pro-Sandinista?
shareNo. I remember seeing this when it came out. The theater was mostly empty opening weekend.
There was no controversy partly because the film didn't attract much attention and partly because the Sandanistas (the FSLN) were not seen as a threat by most Americans.
Interesting, since Latin America is now going socialist, country by country. Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia...
Not that it's a threat to the United States, except that they don't like us much. Or at all, really.
Well, the Reagan Govt certainly didn't ignore the Sandinistas. I guess this film was attempting to ride the tide of the counterculture which was receding at that point. I don't think that Hollywood would make a film so naively open to the charge of Communist sympathies in any other era.
share
Nope, Reagan definitely didn't ignore the FSLN. He killed a ton of them. Remember.. CONTRA? Reagan's outfit.
In comparison to Guatemala and El Savador at the time, Nicaragua had a more open society. In the 1984 elections, international, independent observers stated that the elections had been democratic and legitimate. The USA's hostility to the Sandinistas was because they were attempting to perform social reforms in society, which went against the USA's economic interests in the region.
The USA wanted to install a client state in Nicagarua, like it had done in El Salvador and Guatemala, where the economy was concentrated in power elites and the mass population was exploited. There were also elections in those countries at the time, and observers noted that the climate of fear and state terrorism had made those elections a total sham. But they were legitimate for the USA because the 'right' people were elected - pro-USA business politicians.
One of the USA government's greatest battles was convincing the USA people that Nicaragua was a threat; the media propaganda worked extensively to convince the USA people of that, but polls kept showing that they didn't consider Nicaragua a threat at all.
This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.