Salvador (1986)
Genre: War / Drama
Duration: 122 minuten
Country:
United Kingdom / United States
Directed by: Oliver Stone
Stars: James Woods, Jim Belushi and John Savage
IMDb score:
7,3 (24.003)
Releasedate: 23 April 1986
Salvador plot
"Dateline: 1980, El Salvador. Correspondent: Richard Boyle, Photojournalist - Guatemala, Iran, Vietnam, Chile, Belfast, Lebanon, Cambodia..."
A journalist, who has bad luck in the United States, goes to El Salvador to document the events of the military dictatorship. He makes a treaty with both guerrillas in the country and both sides want him to commit. Meanwhile, he also has to protect his girlfriend from El Salvador and get out of the country.
Actors and actresses
Richard Boyle
Doctor Rock
Ambassador Thomas Kelly
John Cassady
Major Maximilliano Casanova
Jack Morgan
Cathy Moore
Colonel Bentley Hyde Sr.
Pauline Axelrod
Archbishop Romero
Reviews & comments
Madecineman (moderator films)
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- 7484 messages
- 1712 votes
Good film by Stone but overall slightly less than his Vietnam films. There I find the story and the characters a bit more solid, in this film only the character of Woods is well developed, Belushi stays with it as a kind of side-kick throughout the film.
Typically a film that mixes personal drama with a political situation in distant, unstable countries (just like Killing Fields, Hotel Rwanda do for example). It's good that Stone presents an anti-hero as the main character, in the form of Woods who portrays the cynical, rebellious, somewhat failed and worn-out journalist with an enormous urge for freedom and a preference for everything that God has forbidden. His character fits perfectly with the unstable, explosive situation in El Salvador in the early 1980s. Cowboy Woods coming back to life in this hell. I am convinced that his motivations to enter this hornet's nest are more realistic than many other films would have you believe.
Throughout the film you also continue to feel the threat that the shit could hit the fan at any moment, quite an uncanny feeling throughout the film. And yet the film is funny at times, heroic in a quirky way and also offers adventure and spectacle.
The end is in style. No luck we're back in America again, the land of unlimited freedom bullshit. No, the film persists in its raw realism to the bitter end.
It is all well portrayed in the tight way of filming that characterizes Stone. Stone who by the way must have been busy in the year 1986 making Salvador and Platoon.
A bit difficult to judge film, it has very strong points but also its weaknesses. Instinctively, it would come out at a 3.5 to 4*... Let it sink in for a while to find out how much impression this film has managed to make in the end. For now a spacious 3.5 *.
Translated from Dutch · View original
RuudC
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- 4636 messages
- 2529 votes
It's been years since I've taken lectures on history since 1945 and the South American juntas in particular. At the sight of Salvador, the pieces slowly fall back into place. Oliver Stone has made more political films and therefore does not hold back from putting his own government in front of the bloc. During the film it becomes clear that the superpower has a pretty big hand in this misery.
Ironically, it is precisely a product of American civilization that guides the story. Richard Boyle is a journalist who has experienced quite a few lows. He can no longer afford his rent, his wife has left him and he takes on jobs at off-peak rates. Off to El Salvador. What follows is an impressive tour through a country torn by civil wars. As an 'independent' party, Boyle comes into contact with both camps; the junta and the Marxist rebels. In between is anarchism, strewn with corpses. Boyle is an opportunistic character, but apparently cares little about politics. The fact that he wants the best for his El Salvadorian girlfriend makes him more respectable. For the rest, of course, the film revolves around those terrible years in the country. Well done. 4/5
Translated from Dutch · View original
Insignificance
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- 3220 messages
- 5581 votes
Strong year for Stone with Platoon as the smash hit, but this Salvador can also be there. Biggest downside is the music. Some lousy choices, especially when things get tough. The position that the journalist takes, on the other hand, is one of the strongest parts. A movie like this can just fall into a dull history lesson, but Stone prevents that with his lead.
As a viewer you don't get to know much more than Boyle himself. He may rummage through all the camps, but without a broad interpretation the situation in which he and the country find themselves remain unclear enough to feed the chaos that characterizes such a civil war. In this way, the film becomes much more of an experience, something that you undergo, than a well-planned story.
Also because Stone almost constantly provides his film with an agitated atmosphere. In addition, he manages to find a nice balance between politically tinged issues and an expired journalist who tries to keep up on several levels. Woods is crucial. I'd love to see him play anyway. An infectious, fiery actor, perfectly cast for such a thing.
Certainly in the first hour there is also time for some fun. Furthermore, a busy, raw, rough and of course also critical film, where sometimes someone touches on something too emphatically, but you can't call it one-sided crap. The film has a soul and a fitting ending. What sticks with me most is the intensity that is displayed.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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