I recall that this film was highly controversial when it was first released with a cry from certain political figures to ban its showing. Seeing it now, you wonder what all the uproar was about. Nothing more then a B film, the story plot and acting was mediocre to say the least. Roberto Beltran is the only good thing about this film and tries his best, but there really isn't much to go on..Beltran plays a Green Beret who is sent on a secret mission to train and support US allies in Central America. However, just for historical reasons its worth a one time viewing.
2 Reviews
Well meaning, but . . .
ANDREWEHUNT23 September 2006
If good intentions translated into great film-making, then I wouldn't be the only person reviewing this movie, and everybody would be giving it a score of 10 on IMDb. Even though this is a well-meaning film, it has justifiably gone on to become a lost historical relic of the 1980s. I actually saw this film at a fund-raiser in Los Angeles and Haskell Wexler was there. Everything about the film was dreadful. The acting, the pacing, the plot development, the screenplay. Robert Beltran plays a sort of combination CIA/Special Forces-type of commando who trains Contras in Nicaragua and falls in love with a journalist. Their relationship develops against the backdrop of the Contra war in Nicaragua. There's little chemistry between them on screen, and the film fails to engage the audience on all fronts: as a love story, as a film about war and warfare, as a drama. There were other, much better films about Central America from the period: Oliver Stone's gritty Salvador (1986) and Roger Spottiswoode's epic/fast-paced Under Fire (1983). This film just sort of disappeared. I don't even know whether it's available on DVD. Maybe I'm being harsh--it has been 20-plus years since I've seen it. And the good intentions were certainly there.
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