Salvador (1986)

Compelling civil war drama by Oliver Stone with a great James Woods (as well as a great Jim Belushi). Stone's best films have always been his highly political ones, and this is no exception. Brutal, realistic portrayal of the conflict in El Salvador and America's implications. This is one to re-discover by film fans as it seems to have fallen a bit into obscurity over the years. Highly recommended: 8 stars out of 10.In case you're interested in more underrated masterpieces, here's some of my favorites:imdb.com/list/ls070242495

It's 1980. Richard Boyle (James Woods) is a rundown independent journalist. He is desperate to leave San Francisco to go to El Salvador for the action. His buddy Doctor Rock (James Belushi) bails him out of jail and together they take a drug filled drive down to San Salvador. Major Mzx Casanova (Tony Plana) and his henchman (Juan Fernández) leads the military fanatics. Richard has connections from a previous right-wing article. He tries to reconnect with girlfriend Maria and helpful nun Cathy Moore (Cynthia Gibb). They join reporter John Cassady (John Savage). The new Ronald Reagan government is concerned about communist infiltration. The big networks aren't getting the real story. He gets involved with the guerrillas who want to tell their stories to the outside world and the government wants the pictures he takes. Filmmaker Oliver Stone lays out his political views. It's a cross between gonzo journalism and human rights abuses of central America. It's compelling by itself but it's James Woods' manic performance that puts it over the top. His energetic acting matches the chaotic political thriller.

Excellent casting, performances and storytelling by Stone. The major difficulty in watching his re-telling of the true story is the looseness with which he interprets the events and uses the creative license to fill in with completely fictional elements. This isn't a bad thing but, as with all Stone movies, he gives them the illusion of 'reality' by interspersing these fictional elements with the same weight as the real elements. Adding the text post-scripts further enhances this dichotomy and blurs the lines between the actual true story and the "true" story he is telling. James Woods does a phenomenal job of portraying a peripheral real life journalist into a main story character as written by Stone and Boyle. This movie is very entertaining, makes you think and should encourage those who are unfamiliar with the events of this time period and area to actually read up on the scholarly accounts of these events.

Released in the same year as Platoon, Salvador was somewhat overshadowed. Director Oliver Stone became a household name as a result of his Vietnam Oscar winner but it could be argued that his earlier, lower key film about the U.S. backed civil war in El Salvador is the better film. It's a semi-biographical tale about amoral photo-journalist Richard Boyle who travels to the war torn country with the plan to make money from reporting on the conflict but in the process he unexpectedly becomes politicised and emotionally wrapped up by the atrocities he witnesses. In many ways it's a typical Stone movie where he takes contentious political material and takes a direct uncompromising stance that asks uncomfortable questions about American political morality. It certainly is an early indicator of a film that marks out its director as a maverick of the mainstream. He is assisted very ably here by star James Woods whose charismatic turn as Boyle drives the film dramatically. Woods is always best at playing somewhat sleazy yet sympathetic characters. And here he puts in one of his best performances of that template. Stone's dynamic direction along with Woods edgy energy combines to make Salvador what it is.The subject of U.S. political intervention in Latin America was something of a hot potato back in the 80's; however, its subject remains highly relevant today when you consider the various complications caused by American foreign policy in the intervening 25 years. As a result Salvador has remained quite pertinent politically, while at the same time being an educational depiction of a little discussed civil war. It also works more conventionally as a great thriller too. Overall a pretty compelling and dynamic bit of cinema.