Name: When the Mountains Tremble
Genre: Documentary
Duration: 1 h 23 min
Rating: 7.6
Cast: Rigoberta Menchú, Susan Sarandon

Was It Supposed to be Entertainment or Education?

This is a documentary with quite a serious tone taking a firm stance against the government with regard to the wars between the government of Guatemala and certain guerilla revolutionary groups.

In order to accomplish this, it uses the variable tools of field interviews, footage of political speeches, recreations, and Rigoberta Menchu talking to the camera in front of a black background. It's hard to tell what is staged and what is real sometimes, which is concerning since it's definitely a propagandistic piece.

Basically the Guatemalan government is corrupt and evil, the Catholic Church is no help, the army is lecherous and rude, and the US is an evil imperialist backer of corrupt, but stable, regimes all in the name of anti-communist zeal. It's more about these malicious players than about saying much good or bad about the guerillas.

Probably not far from the truth.

As for the entertainment value, it's not particularly cohesive or energetic, but I wasn't bored.

Partly in English, partly in Spanish, and partly in one or more indigenous languages of Guatemala. I guess it's Maya and maybe something, else, as sometimes it sounds like a mesoamerican language but at other times it sounds like some semitic language.

Honourable Mentions: Manufacturing Consent. US meddling in Latin America is one of Noam chomsky's major concerns.

The documentary is a form of non-fiction storytelling that aims to present factual information, insights, and perspectives on real-world subjects, events, issues, or people. Documentaries can cover a wide range of topics, including history, science, culture, social issues, nature, biographies, and more.

Dziga Vertov in Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

A documentary on the war between the Guatemalan military and the Mayan population, with firsthand accounts by Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu.

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When the Mountains Tremble

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