Salvador

There are times while we are growing up that things happen in the world that strike as horrific but over time they seem to fade into memory. This film takes place during the El Salvadoran civil war, that at the time was just a distant country and news story to me back in the early 80s. Oliver Stone directs James Woods and James Belushi in this very strong and emotionally charged film. This film shows some of the backroom dealings that go on with governments that use outside military advisors to beef up their own forces.
A down and out reporter heads off to El Salvador during its civil war in order to capture a perfect war story that would put him back on top of the journalistic world. The tempo of the film is set as soon as Woods and Belushi cross the border into El Salvador, from the moment that they are taken captive at the military roadblock the audience is taken on a roller coaster ride that never stops until the credits run at the end. The realistic sequences of public assassinations and roving death squads leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth, but that is exactly what Stone is trying to accomplish.
As we all grow older we begin to reexamine the way we looked at and dealt with things, issues and events that happened around us when we were younger. I used to have a classmate who was from El Salvador, he was an exchange student in the late 70s, and at the time there was talk about whether he was going to stay in America or go back to his home, after watching this film I truly wonder what happened to him. When the emotion that is in a film is transferred onto the audience and makes them think about they lives and the times that they have lived through, I truly believe the filmmakers have accomplished something special. If you enjoy war films this is one to checkout, it approaches the story from the viewpoint of the journalist instead of the soldier or an innocent bystander. I waited much to long to see this film; I enjoyed it from the opening sequences on.