Posted on 07/06/2010 9:27:25 PM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
Critics who complain about his favorable depiction of Hugo Chavez and other Latin American leaders are spreading “mythologies,” director Oliver Stone said Friday night after a Santa Monica screening of his film “South of the Border.”
Stone participated in a Q&A session at Laemmle’s Monica 4-Plex after the screening, which was picketed by protesters who felt that his documentary’s positive look at anti-imperialist leaders in Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina and other countries overlooked the economic ills and repressive policies of countries like Chavez’s Venezuela.
Actress Maria Conchita Alonso, who earlier in the week told theWrap that Stone’s depiction of Chavez was “all lies,” led a protest outside the theater before the screening. A counter-protest by Chavez supporters also took place, clogging the sidewalks outside the Laemmle and prompting increased security and a police presence at the theater, where the screening went off without incident.
Afterwards, Stone took part in a Q&A session along with his film’s producer, Fernando Sulichin; Ricardo Moreno, president of the Simon Bolivar Association of Los Angeles; and Miguel Tinker Salas, a professor of history and Latin American studies at Pomona College.
The director called his film “an introduction to a region, and a historical moment that is very significant … There are six or seven countries unified in their desire for independence from [the United States].”
“South of the Border” takes particular aim at the policies of the George W. Bush administration, during which most of it was filmed, and of the International Monetary Fund, which Stone said is largely controlled by the United States. The presidents he filmed in interviews and more informal settings – many of whom were persuaded to do the film by Chavez, who occupies by far the most screen time – are generally working-class and socialist-leaning, and have been vilified by some U.S. media outlets as being anti-American.
“I really am stunned, and I don’t understand the negativity toward [Chavez] in the American press,” said Stone.
While most of the questions were supportive of Stone and the film, the first questioner brought up many of the issues raised by critics of Chavez, asking Stone why he omitted the facts that “Chavez changed the constitution to declare himself ‘president for life’"; that Venezuela currently holds 28 political prisoners; that the government has nationalized many industries, including the grocery industry; and that mainstream press outlets have been shut down.
When moderator Margaret Prescod of KPFK radio scolded the questioner for asking too many questions, Stone quickly cut her off.
“No,” he said, “I think it’s good that we get it all out. These are ... mythologies, and I want to deal with them.”
He turned the microphone over to Tinker Salas, who said that the Venezuelan constitution was changed not by Chavez but in a full election by the people of Venezuela, not to make Chavez “president for life” but to end term limits; that the grocery industry was nationalized because of “problems with the question of food sovereignity”; that the government restored public rather than private control of the airwaves, and that the Daily Journal was shut down not by the government but “for internal reasons.”
This is a democratically run country,” insisted Stone. “Do not believe their stories.”
The director also lashed out at the mainstream media in both the United States and Latin America for its embrace of conservative talking-points. “‘President for life’ is the kid of terminology the right wing uses,” he said. “These are buzzwords to get the American people going.”
Among the other points that Stone covered in the Q&A session:
He supports a system that in the film he calls “benign capitalism,” as opposed to “predatory capitalism”: “I do believe, still, in market economies, because they do redistribute the wealth.”
He finds Latin American people surprisingly accepting of Americans: “We have trashed their countries for so long, in Central and South America, but they do not hold a grudge.”
He thinks Chavez is “too macho” for Americans, but refreshing for a politician: “He’s a man who doesn’t have a filter on his mouth … But I loved him as a person.”
He finds many of the socialist-leaning leaders in Latin America a welcome change after the candidates who routinely are elected in the United States: “Every time, we get the educated elite. We get some guy from Harvard or Yale. Even Obama is from Harvard, and I’m sick of it.”
He does hold out more hope for Barack Obama than he did for George W. Bush (who he termed “a moron” and “a criminal who should be on trial for a number of things”), but he thinks the current president probably got a rude awakening once he was elected: “I think somebody took him out to the woodshed when he won and said, ‘You think you’re running the country, but you’re not … It’s the system.’”
And he’s working on two more documentaries that will no doubt draw their own criticism: one is another film based on interviews with Fidel Castro, and the other is “a 10-hour documentary called ‘The Secret History of the United States.’”
Ping
Too macho? Hugo will soil himself when the coup comes.
“Macho, Macho Man........I want to be a Macho Man....”
Stone can take his commie ass to Venezuela if he loves Chavez so much.
Don’t know what it is about”rainbow” colored fascist dicatators that causes white boys like Stone to get a tingle in their “leg”.
Nah, he can’t make fat wads of dough in commieland. It is better to grow fat on the same system that you publicly decry.
Oliver Stone is an idiot.
Ollie, listen to me, son - if you can’t sell a panegyric about Hitler in 30’s Germany, your career is done. Give it up. It’s over.
Won’t do that, can make much more money here in the US producing liberal films.
No argument here.
Kudos to Ms. Alonso for speaking out.
Every. Single. Time.
That’s just it, as stated elsewhere.
He ain’t selling his panegyric to American moviegoers, just to lefty college professors and high school history teachers. He knows this movie (like “JFK”, “Nixon” and his Fidel movies) will be force-fed on class time to kiddies across the fruited plain.
But you can bet he won't.
Indeed, because there just isn’t any money in it (unless you are in the oligarchy).
I always figured Stone was half a fag.
Useful idiots. There are far too many in this country at present.
One correction.
Not that useful.
Oliver, in a way, is an oligarch in this country. Why move? He may not fare as well elsewhere.
Stone is obsessed with machismo, among other (snort) things.
They are to Obama Et Al. Certainly not to the rest of us however.
History was written by the losers and produced by Hollywood....
Spoken like a true Goebbels.
I hope Stone won’t mind when Hugo does a takeover of movie theaters and starts showing Ollie’s movies for free. I imagine we’ll see Mr. Macho shrieking like a little girl for his residuals.
Well, it is human nature to want most whatever it is we do not have, after all... ;)
Case in point: Michael Moore.
... not to mention MSNBC, from stem to stern...
Exactly. Moore would not live in any of the countries he holds forth as shining examples of what a country should be.
I think it's time for a new rule at FR. Anytime there's a story about Hugo Chavez, we need to post a pic of Maria Conchita Alonso.
The fact that I've had a crush on her since The Running Man has absolutely nothing to do with this new rule I propose, of course. :-)
Whats coming in this country is going to make the McCarthy era look like child's play.
ZERO TOLERANCE FOR MARXISM IN DC.
He is just another limosine liberal who sees life one way for himself and another for the rest of us. A pox on him and his like.
He would be much thinner if he did.
I’m not sure how PMSNBC survives in a more-or-less capitalist country.
How does that work?
Truly. Sergei Eisenstein he ain’t.
Hi Jim. I am watching Primetime Family secrets tonight. It is about a person from your town. Marcus Wesson cult/killer in 2004. Real creepy.
True on many, many levels.
Hugo Chavez is macho? LOL.
Chavez is a potbelly out-of-shape middle age man. If Chavez had to do anything manly, he would probably lose control of his bowels.
Chavez is just a poser and a phony who gets other people do to his dirty work for him. Sort of like American liberals.
Sounds like Stone should move his production company to Venezuela? Talk about a Win Win!
Pray for AMerica
Actor Maria Conchita Alonso penned the letter, titled "An Open Letter to Sean Penn," on the website Newsbusters [Newsbusters link]. In it, she expresses her disappointment at Penn's statements made on the March 5 episode of HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher." On the panel-based talk show, Penn praised the Venezuelan president, saying Chavez had been elected in "14 of the most transparent elections in the globe, and been elected democratically." Conchita Alonso, who was born in Cuba 52 years ago but raised in Venezuela, begs to differ.
My bumperstickers will reflect a distrust in government and the media in general and a trust in the 2nd ammendment in particular. And who spooks them the most? Sarah Palin, whose name will be blazing across the back of my truck to drive them nuts.
So. If the United States government were to seize control of Stone's production company, Ixtlan Productions, all it's assets and properties (probably worth at least a few million), and "restore" it to "public control," rather than letting Oliver run things, he'd be totally cool with that?
Oh, the lefties just love Venezuala.
Until the put some kind of business there and Chavez nationalizes it.
Wouldn’t it be fun if Chavez “acquired” Stone’s production company or whatever Stone’s company is? I’d love to see these tyrant lovers lose their livelihood to little Hitler.
lol, all that testosterone in that little bitty package.
Oliver Stone is a guilt ridden, deviant, Hollywood goof. What a waste of talent.
Venezuelans are the ones who say you’re full of dog poo, Oliver. “JFK” was total BS too, chief.
Stone is one of those Vietnam veterans who has “gone commie”. It happened to a few of the more radical members of the armed forces, esp. those who became members of the maoist faction of Vietnam Veterans Against the War in Vietnam. They are now members and supporters of the Maoist “Revolutionary Communist Party” of Robert Avakian and VVAW/VFW leader David Cline, Barry Romo, Joe Miller, etc.
Stone is a hardcore red and we must never forget it. He is the enemy of America.
the same leftist frauds who lick Chavez boots had meltdowns over “cowboys” Bush & Cheney...... a##clowns like Oliver Stone can’t even pretend to be honest or plausible or rational
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