Motivation of Oliver Stone in Making the Documentary "South of the Border"

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Latin America
“South of the Border” is an American documentary film Oliver Stone directed. When making the film, Stone hoped that the film would help people better understand leaders who are wrongly called buffoons for no apparent reason. Additionally, Stone wanted to paint a clear picture of free-market economic policies and the International Monetary Fund and how they executed their duties in Latin America. Moreover, Stone wanted to bring to attention social injustices in Latin America and show presidents whose policies and personalities are restricted. For that reason, Stone traveled to the Caribbean to highlight the plight of Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan president, and other Latin American Presidents. This paper will explain the motivation of Oliver Stone in making this fascinating documentary and what he had intended to convey to his audience.
Inequality is one of the significant vices known to be widespread in South American countries. Stone was motivated to show his audience the reality on the ground regarding inequality in these countries. He shows how Latin American countries were being denied access to International Monetary Funds in the film (López 0:06:18). This is because the United States essentially controls this institution. Stone gave an instance when Venezuela was once denied access to these funds, yet the country was in an economic crisis at the time. Stone wanted to show how inequality was happening at the time.
Stone was primarily interested in addressing misconceptions in his film south of the border. According to him, some good leaders are wrongly called buffoons for no good reason. Among other Latin American leaders, Chavez was accused of being corrupt, a drug addict, supporting terrorism, and being a dictator. According to Stone, this accusation was not true because he’s a president who fought for equality, reducing poverty and democracy, and stabilizing the economy of Venezuela, which was in a crisis. Stone
The film depicts oppression, which was not reported by media houses. This was one of the fundamental reasons that motivated Oliver Stone to do the movie to let the world know what was happening in Latin America. In his film, Hugo Chavez’s efforts to liberate Venezuela from the poor leadership of then-president Carlos Parades, who had misused government funds up to seventeen million dollars, were opposed. He was also accused of becoming dangerous to the United States. Additionally, Chavez was also accused of supporting terrorism and promoting exploitation in the country, yet he worked hard to reduce poverty and revive the collapsed economy. Stone depicts how some good leaders face oppression in their bid to fight for democracy.
The film depicts how media bias had a significant impact in that era. Stone, in his film, highlights how the media reported false information and ignored some very crucial cases that they could have conveyed. This motivated Oliver to travel to Latin America to get first-hand information. According to Stone, the media reported Chavez as a buffoon, drug addict, and dictator for no apparent reason, yet he was working towards alleviating poverty and reviving the economy...