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Salvador Review
A journalist, down on his luck in the US, drives to El Salvador to chronicle the events of the 1980 military dictatorship, including the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero. He forms an uneasy alliance with both guerrillas in the countryside who want him to get pictures out to the US press, and the right-wing military, who want him to bring them photographs of the rebels. Meanwhile he has to find a way of protecting his Salvadorian girlfriend and getting her out of the country.
Based on the real-life experiences of photo-journalist (and co-scriptwriter) Richard Boyle, Salvador is a searing indictment of the right-wing death squads kept in power in Central America by CIA collusion.
James Woods gives a terrific, animated performance as the morally righteous but highly dislikeable journalist, while Jim Belushi, as his drug-addled companion, makes the perfect foil, offering a less righteous, plain man’s view of events.
Hilarious and terrifying by turns, but always gripping. Salvador gave the first indication that in Stone, Hollywood had a screenwriter who could make the transition to top-notch director with remarkable ease.
Stone takes gritty subject matter and hacks it into a perilous ride based on Boyle's life in Salvador. Showing the true, upsetting and harsh realities of which most of us try not to think of. Pure Oliver Stone.
