Academy Award® Winning Haskell Wexler’s Latino: America’s Secret War In Nicaragua.

[Judi Lynn]

Academy Award® Winning Haskell Wexler’s Latino: America’s Secret War In Nicaragua.
Available On DVD June 14, 2011

~snip~
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) June 14, 2011

Haskell Wexler, the two time Academy-Award® Winning Cinematographer (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf, Bound for Glory) and three time Oscar® nominee (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Matewan, Blaze), is a well-respected industry icon who suffers the same fate as any independent filmmaker: he anxiously awaits the release of his narrative feature shot in Nicaragua during the 80s. He has directed over a dozen films including Medium Cool, which has been selected for preservation by the United States National Film Registry and by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” And despite Wexler’s credentials, he has waited 26 years for the Director’s Cut of his feature film, Latino, shot in 1984 during America’s secret war on Nicaragua, to finally see the light of day. The unseen cut of the film, a Lucas Film Production which was selected to premiere at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival as a selection in ‘Un Certain Regard’, will be released by Cinema Libre Studio on June 14, 2011 on DVD and digital platforms.

Wexler, chosen by the International Cinematographer’s Guild, to be one of film history's ten most influential cinematographers, traveled into the war-torn country at the age of 63 without the approval of the U.S. State Department. One of his crew members turned out to be a plant by the CIA. Wexler was accompanied by a skeleton crew, which at times came under fire as they filmed in villages that had been recently attacked by Contra forces, with the vision of making a feature film that would expose the lies being told about the Sandinista-Contra conflict. “The main thing was that it was a secret war and a dirty secret…the U.S. always denied (involvement) saying that was just a civil war within Nicaragua,” said Wexler in a recent interview. “The reason I want the Director’s Cut to come out now is to say that the people in power in our country will pay to arm bad people (and have them go into) another country and kill their women and children and do it for a ‘good cause.’ And of course we’ve seen that in Iraq. We’re seeing that now in the Middle East. And that’s not what America is all about.”

The conflict in Nicaragua began in 1979 after the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), a socialist movement, ousted long-time dictator Anastasio Somoza. The Sandinistas instituted a policy of mass literacy, devoted significant resources to health care, and promoted gender equality. In 1981, after being elected president, Ronald Regan authorized the CIA to begin financing, arming and training rebels, most of whom were former members of Somoza's National Guard, to counter the perceived Cuban-style “communist threat” posed by the Sandinistas. The counter-revolutionaries became known as the Contras and were trained in neighboring Honduras, engaging in guerrilla warfare aimed at ousting the Sandinistas forces in Nicaragua.

In 1984, the same year Wexler filmed Latino in Honduras and Nicaragua, the U.S. government pledged over $24 million to aid the Contras. Later that year, Congress prohibited federal funding of the militia group after the FSLN held democratic elections and American public opinion changed against support of the Contras. However, the Reagan administration continued to back the guerillas by raising money from allies abroad and more significantly, selling arms to Iran - then engaged in a war with Iraq - with proceeds funneled back to the Contras. This became known as the Iran-Contra Affair.

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20110614/bs_prweb/prweb8539466

[Peace Patriot]

1. I wonder why it has taken 26 years to release the film. The article does not say.

Wexler says that it's relevant to the Middle East--i.e., U.S. militarism--and that is certainly true, but it's also relevant to CURRENT U.S. activities in Latin America--to Colombia and Honduras, in particular--to the creation of U.S. military bases all over the Central America/Caribbean region, and deployment of the U.S. 4th Fleet within the Caribbean, as well as to belligerent U.S. propaganda campaigns and activities against Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, and other countries with leftist governments, including NICARAGUA itself, where Daniel Ortega, the leader whose government was targeted by the "Contras" was recently elected president.

I can't say that I look forward to seeing "Latino," exactly, although I do want to see it. What a painful time that was for me--in my first perceptions of the gross injustice of U.S. policy in Latin America, as a young person. It is still painful, of course, but the pain has become a dull, chronic misery, mostly--as I watch bloody-minded U.S. policy repeated over and over and over again. There was some hope, when I was young, that this could be changed. We still had a functioning democracy, going into the Reagan era. But we don't any more. And, unless the people of the U.S. get rid of the 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines--now largely (80%) controlled by one, private, far rightwing-connected corporation--ES&S, which bought out Diebold--there is no chance of even taking small steps toward serious reform (casting off the corporate rulers and war profiteers). Despite what appears to be a subtler Obama/Clinton/ Panetta policy in Latin America, (subtler than the Bushwhacks), the goal of domination remains and the military bases remain and Oil War IV is still on the Pentagon's Big Dartboard.

[Judi Lynn]

2. He has some unforgettable films in his past, you may want to scan this material.

Here's an article on him by Saul Landau, with whom he made one film:

'The People's Cinematographer - Haskell Wexler'

By Saul Landau (published in 'The Progressive', April 1998).

I first met Haskell Wexler in 1969. He had recently finished directing 'Medium Cool', a film that exposed the brutality of Chicago cops during the 1968 Democratic convention. Paramount had refused to release 'Medium Cool' for almost a year after he had finished editing it. The Motion Picture Association of America gave the film an X rating - ostensibly because it had a nude scene. Haskell maintains to this day that the X stood for unacceptable political content.

He is ranked as one of the world's greatest cinematographers, but the acclaim has not diluted his politics. "We have a responsibility to show the public the kinds of truths that they don't see on the TV news or the Hollywood film," he says.

Wexler had other enemies. The FBI called him "potentially dangerous because of background, emotional instability, or activity in groups engaged in activities inimical to the United States," according to a 1974 memo signed by FBI Director Clarence Kelley.

Haskell Wexler was born in Chicago to a well-to-do family. While still in grade school he worked with Micky Pallas, a Chicago still-photographer in the trade-union movement. In eighth grade, Haskell began taking pictures of striking unionists.

More:
http://www.cinematographers.nl/PaginasDoPh/wexlerhaskell.htm

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Some places, like Amazon, have it available to watch online for $3.99, and available for purchase, as well.

I'm thinking I want to plan to see this one.

[Peace Patriot]

3. Thanks for the info!

I didn't intend any criticism of Wexler. Just meant to explain my ambivalence about seeing "Latino"--a film made in, and set in, an era of hope that something could be done about U.S. policy in Latin America. I don't have that hope any more. I am overjoyed that Latin Americans are taking their own measures to establish their independence, defend their democracies and pursue social justice. But I am appalled at the state of our own country, thirty years after the war on Nicaragua--the same evils repeated over and over and over again, with less and less democracy here at every turn.

The people of U.S. have NO control over our government, NO say whatsoever on any policy--we are merely a looted and disempowered adjunct to transglobal corporate/war profiteer interests. And, frankly, I avoid films and books from or about the 60s/70s era because that was THE critical turning point during which the U.S. could have lived up to its ideals and DIDN'T--and started down this dark, dark road to endless war and filthy greed. My youth occurred at that juncture and I was formed by it. And I feel it as a personal and generational failure that we, as a people, could not turn our country away from war.

The only book I've been able to read about that era is "JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters," by James Douglass, which was published recently (a couple of years ago). That book is a healer--and I look forward to his books on RFK and MLK. (It is a trilogy.) But that was unusual for me. I'm not sure why I read it--probably because Douglass is a Catholic Worker (an extraordinarily worthy and honest movement). But I'm very glad I did. It is a superb book. Douglass has a profound understanding of the early part of that era. He is both an extraordinary detective and researcher and an extraordinary philosopher. He takes on the BIG questions.

With that exception, I AVOID books and films from or about that era. I really can't bear them. Possibly reading Douglass' book will help me break through this barrier. It IS a barrier--a psychological or emotional block. As to Wexler's film, I only meant to say how difficult it will be for me to watch it, if I do. I am so very sad about my country.

[Judi Lynn]

4. It's almost impossible to overcome the shock once you start seeing the reality

behind the projected image, or fantasy taught to us all since birth.

Your reaction is a sharp indication of the depth of your character. You are struggling whole-heartedly to come to a resolution after waves of horrifying, soul-searing, unforgiveable new information have been encountered, weighed, digested. That takes deep caring, and love, and hope.

We see many reactions to learning about the shocking difference between the traditional narrative of this country's history, and the truth. What is absolutely hideous is the ongoing knowledge there are some among us who are aware of a lot of the murderous, sadistic treachery which has been employed who SUPPORT this, and who live in hatred of anyone who would suggest totally different morality is needed and expected of an "enlightened," "civilized" nation.

They will lose, in the end, and be left behind.

Thanks for the info. the JFK book by James Douglass is one of three. Had no idea.