On S List of Movie Reviews
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Salvador (1986)
Rate:
10
Viewed:
5/16, 6/24
5/16:
Salvador is another great, albeit unknown, Oliver Stone picture with a fantastic James Woods performance.
Having jumpstarted Oliver Stone's directing career, it's quite similar to
The Killing Fields but, this time, features a protagonist with many character flaws.
The next six films in his oeuvre are Platoon, Wall Street,
Talk Radio, Born on the Fourth of July,
The Doors, and JFK. Talk about a run of greatness.
If I have to pinpoint a scene that probably nailed it for an Oscar nomination for James Woods, it's his confession to the
priest. Although he has the looks of a son of a bitch, James Woods is always an entertaining and charismatic individual whenever
the attention is on him.
No person in his right mind will go to a war-torn country if he has another choice, but that's what Richard Boyle did during
the early 80's by traveling to El Salvador on the cusp of a civil war, resulting in a mass murder of the populace. Today, El
Salvador has one of the highest murder rates in the world.
All in all, Salvador, like The Killing Fields, is an intense action-adventure
movie about photojournalists who risk their lives to document a country that's torn apart by senseless violence.
6/24:
Salvador is the closest you can experience about the effects of the Iran-Contra affair.
First started with Nicaragua, it spread to El Salvador, and both civil wars were funded by the United States in hopes of stopping
"communism." But really, they just wanted to control these countries by enforcing its policy with their own puppet leaders. By the way,
there are references to Archbishop Romero, and a movie was made about him called Romero with Raúl
Juliá.
James Woods deserved to be Oscar-nominated which was pretty much clinched by his confession to the priest althought a case can be
made for his speech at the table with two men. Oliver Stone and Richard Boyle got the other one for their original
screenplay. Of course, the critics called the film disjointed; that's because they didn't either understand the conflict or want
to admit that the U.S. was in the wrong the entire time. The scenes of war zone are 100% impressive, being on the same level as
The Killing Fields.
All in all, Salvador is a very underrated movie about what it's like to be a photojournalist in the middle of a war.